#Not happy with this since I was kinda crunched for time since I waited so long to start my doodle

[kinda-daily-warriorcat]

Quick concept

[partycatty]

a depressed and drunk johnny cage in his trailer on his birthday and we decide to surprise him. Us being a good bestfriend bake him a cute little cake with happy birthday spelt out in frosting and get permission to go deliver it to him.

what’s he supposed to do when he’s drunk and a cute little thing like us does something so sweet? sure it’s his birthday, but he thinks you deserve a gift and he ends up fucking you in his trailer.

love ya 💙💙💙

ARF ARF BARK BARK GRRR WOOF

johnny cage > happy bithday

you surprise your best friend on his birthday. he returns the favor.

warnings: smut ofc, he's drunk (i knowwww he's a canon recovering alcoholic BEAR WITH MEEE) SUB JOHNNY NATION RISE UP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i kinda made him beg like a dog icl so hes kinda ooc oops

notes: INTENTIONAL MISSPELT TITLE!!! and this fic kicked my ASS. it took me like a week to get the courage to finish this holy fucking shit.

word count: 2.8k

[ masterlist ]

• you and johnny went far back. you had ties in the filming industry though you weren't on screen yourself. this drew you two together, even before you careers blossomed.

• you worked next door to his production, and you recall johnny expressing to you his annoyance for having to work on his birthday. he sounded... more miserable than usual, and it left a weird pit in your stomach.

• during your break, you ran into a nearby supermarket and purchased all the equipment you'd need: cake mix, frosting, sprinkles, and two numerical candles that spelled out 30. it took blood sweat in tears for you to bake this cake in record time, and decorating may have not been your strong suit but the purple frosting and gold lettering turned out... decent. hey, it's edible nonetheless!

• tip-toeing your way to his trailer, you were sure he had to be inside. you even double checked with his staff, and he was on an extended break while filming. standing at the door, you knock a couple times, and a stuffy, groaning voice responds.

• "m'busy," you know it's johnny's voice but it sounded far sadder than anticipated. hopefully the cake would cheer him up?

• you reply with his name through the crack in the door, and there's some shuffling before the door swings open. you don't even have time to wait or process the situation before johnny tugs you into his trailer by your arm. your face darkens slightly when you notice his flushed face and parted lips. his hair was messy, and the smell of alcohol poured from his mouth. the top few buttons of his dress shirt were undone, giving you a peek of his bare chest. any other situation, you'd be head over heels, but his appearance concerned you.

• "are you drunk?" you ask with a hint of bewilderment, and johnny can only wipe his eyes and nod weakly, giving you a lopsided grin that unfortunately makes you feel weak in the knees. you swore to god to never act on this little crush, since he was a celebrity and all, and you knew better than to put your genuinely good friendship at risk.

• "you made me a cake?" johnny's gentle, almost tearful voice tore away any anger that began to bubble up and replaced it with warmth. you nod and hold it out to him, and the faint candlelight flickers against his skin beautifully. he was so soft when he was drunk at times, and only you got to see this warmer side compared to his typical cocky ways.

• "it's... not my best work," you shrug sheepishly, looking down at the cake. when you look back up, you notice johnny's lashes are wet as they flutter, looking down at the cake with you. he sniffs, and wipes his eyes quickly.

• "you spelled it wrong." his smile doesn't falter but the tears threaten to spill.

• "what?"

• "doll... look," johnny's finger trails the iced words. "you forgot the R."

• oh, shit. you did. the cake reads HAPPY BITHDAY JOHNNY in the most confident gold lettering. the time crunch must've made your proofreading not too accurate. you blush and try to move the cake away from view, sliding it onto his vanity.

• as you were about to sputter useless apologies and try to move on, johnny takes a step closer and fully embraces your body in his large arms, his form completely overtaking yours and trapping you in his grasp. johnny's head buries itself in the crook of your neck as he squeezes tight, nearly knocking the wind out of you.

• on instinct, your arms try to wrap around his body, gripping his shirt tightly. johnny mutters something incoherent, his drunken ramblings a key trait of his state.

• "you're so sweet to me," he mumbles tearfully, peppering kisses along your neck. sure, he was affectionate typically, but he was kissing your neck. he was drunk, but... your heart fluttered.

• "hey, hey..." you rub his back soothingly, hoping maybe you could stop him from attacking your neck in hopes it'll cool your rising heat. "because you're my best friend."

• he whines into your neck, presumably in appreciation of your words. your neck begins to have a faint smell of alcohol.

• "such a sweet girl..." he doesn't stop. his hands wander to your lower back, pulling you in harder. this worries you, deeply.

• "johnny," your voice is warning as they find their place on his broad shoulders. "easy, easy, you're drunk."

• "whassat matter," he bites down into your flesh, making you yelp in shock. "mean so much to me."

• when his hands find their way to your ass, kneading at the flesh, you shove him away with furrowed brows. "you don't want this," you warn him, fighting every single urge to not pounce on him in that moment. "this is... really, really stupid, i mean, it's just a birthday-"

• johnny shuts you up quickly with a kiss, slamming his face against yours so hard you feel the clack of his teeth. his face cups yours, borderline squeezing your cheeks as his lips dance with yours. when he finally pulls away, a string of saliva connects your lips and it sends you weak in the knees.

• "doll," he huffs, wiping his mouth. "birthday or not, i've wanted you for so long." he's breathless and nearly incoherent, like this was his only shot at what he truly wanted. johnny was infamous for admitting shit when drunk, so you knew that this was true for the most part. this was only reinforced when he suddenly dropped to his knees, level with your stomach as he placed fluttering kisses along the front of your shirt.

• "please, i..." he pressed his face into the fabric, fists bunching up around the back. "i'll make you feel real good, if you let me..." his hand snakes under your shirt, rubbing circles in the flesh of your waist as he looks up with pleading eyes. your hand moves downward, raking gently through his hair.

• "you really want this?" you ask gently, toying with his hair. "no going back."

• his lips brush against your stomach as he teeters between kissing the skin and speaking against it. "i want you so bad, doll."

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

• all it took was your permission, and johnny was on you in seconds. he backed you into his vanity, sending various items clattering to the ground. he fit so snug between your thighs, settling there to make out with you. perhaps he didn't even notice, but he was gently rutting into you as your lips connected, expelling desperate whimpers down your throat that only fueled your long-time desire. his cock could just barely make out the dip between your folds, but he pressed a little harder and made you gasp when your clit received unexpected attention.

• johnny pulls you in by the waistband of your pants, pressing your bodies impossibly closer as he panted in your ear. "let me taste you," he begged in a low whisper as he hooked his thumbs under the fabric. "i'll be good, i'll be so good."

• jesus, it seemed he wanted to eat you out more than you wanted to be eaten out. you'd never seen this flavor of eagerness in a man and it admittedly took you some strength to not giggle at how johnny fucking cage of all people became a lost, drunken puppy between your legs.

• "go on, pretty boy," you pant as your lips brush. the smell of alcohol brings you back to reality for only a moment.

• johnny decided that words took too much effort and instead dropped to his knees before you, shoulders holding up the weight of your plush thighs as he parted them hungrily to not waste a second more.

• the poor man forgets to even remove your pants before he's pressing his nose onto your heat, eyelashes fluttering as his heart swells with adoration. your scent, your heaving chest, your pretty thighs weighing his shoulders down, it was all too much. his pants feel a size too tight as his boner strains against his slacks.

• you get his brain going by jumping your hips up to get your pants past your ass, letting him pull them down the rest of the way. he throws them far, far away and latches himself again onto your pussy, now only divided by the fabric.

• "you were so eager before," you groan, thrusting forward slightly to put more pressure. "take them off."

• "no," he mutters against your panties, the vibrations making you jolt. "want this to last." his tongue flattens, drawing a long stripe up the fabric. when your panties stick to your pussy, it makes out the shape and he groans at the tease.

• "hold on," he places your thighs back down, trying to calm his breathing and flushed face. "i... i need this first. please." he unbuckles himself and pulls his slacks down to his thighs, giving you a view of his rock solid boner. it honestly looked painful, and you felt pity even if he looked adorable like this. his eyes were downward, fidgeting with his loose belt in shame. he chuckles breathily. "it's so hard, it hurts."

• "that's..." you struggle to find words when your mouth goes dry staring at his thick imprint. "that's alright." your voice was flat, trying to hide your desperation at his need to ask for permission. he didn't need to ask.

• johnny swallows thickly and lets his pants drop, followed by his boxers. his cock was blushed and seeping with precum, twitching once when he looked back up at you. he lets out a small moan, getting far ahead of himself as he positions his hips against yours. he gasps when the contact is made, stuttering his hips ever so slightly. johnny's hands find your thighs again, squeezing down hard to ground himself to not cum immediately. sober and platonic interactions were already far too much for his raging desire for you, so actually getting what he craved was beyond overstimulating.

• you were sick of waiting, so you snake your arms to rest atop his shoulders, hands raking through his undercut. you grip down slightly and he bites his lower lip in response, eyebrows knitting together as his wet eyes burn through yours. you glide your cunt along his throbbing dick and he jolts forward, resting his damp forehead against your shoulder.

• johnny understands you're just as eager as him and begins to thrust into your damp panties, but quickly decides it won't give him what he needs, so he hooks them with his thumb and stretches them aside. his tongue darts out to wet his lips, his eyes are glossed over and all he can fixate on is your pleasure.

• his tip notches between your folds and settles nicely, earning a hiss from the both of you from the warmth. johnny bucks forward eagerly, sliding himself up and down seamlessly due to how soaked you were. your folds hug his cock in just the right way, and you feel yourself already feeling heavenly every time your sensitive clit bumps against his tip.

• "fuck, doll," he hisses into the skin of your neck, placing open mouth kisses. "i want to last, you're - ngh - making it so hard... so hard..." he trails off, groaning when you slip and make his tip kiss the entrance of your cunt, making his knees buckle. "'m gonna cum just from this... god, you're so beautiful, beautiful girl-" his praises become increasingly more high pitched and you can tell by the way he begins to stutter his hips that he's close, unable to last long and it's driving him wild.

• johnny wasn't ever this needy, ever this pathetic. you reduced the cocky a-lister to a near-sobbing mess as he slips across your cunt, finding a momentum difficult from how slippery the entire scene has become. his cock is soaked, dripping down his leg due to your arousal.

• just as your orgasm builds up, as does his, johnny pulls away and lowers himself, gripping the flesh of your ass to pull your hips to his mouth. now thoroughly soaked and clenching around nothing, your cunt is desperate for a release that johnny happily provides, latching onto your clit, and shoving two fingers deep in your hole. he flattens his tongue, shaking his head slightly and flicking your clit relentlessly.

• your orgasm rides up on you rapidly, overwhelmed by the direct pleasure and how filled you were from two of his long fingers alone. wanting to lurch forward as your body trembles, johnny uses his other hand to sit flatly on your stomach, pushing you up against the mirror of the vanity and forcing you to take his lapping and fingering.

• johnny couldn't stand to have your pleasure soak his cock, shockingly. he needed, needed to taste the mess you were making for him or he just might die. you shake, trying to writhe and twitch as your orgasm fights you in waves. loud moans are pulled from your throat with each pulse of pleasure. your arousal soaks johnny's face, effectively soaking his nose and chin as he devours all you have to offer. he matched your moans with high-pitched whimpers, brows knitting together as his eyes clench shut. he was in heaven just as much as you were.

• he continues to lap at you until you force him away by his hair, his mouth becoming borderline painful as he eats you out through your orgasm. you giggle, as it slightly tickles. johnny looks... well, still drunk, but now a new kind. pussydrunk? lovedrunk? either way, the glossy look on his face suits him.

• as your chest heaves, attempting to recollect yourself, everything about the situation comes back to reality. you just grinded against your best friend. your best friend made you cum from his mouth.

• "what's that look?" johnny asks, wiping his mouth with his forearm. his eyes are glittering with delight.

• "nothing," you shrug, his grin contagious. "you did good, johnny."

• "yeah?" he seems proud of himself, glancing downward for a moment. he squeezes your thighs lovingly, placing a gentle kiss on them before finally standing up.

• "yeah." just as you respond, you look down to his cock, wondering if maybe he'd need some help getting there, too. it seemed only fair, that is, until you notice it's semi-hard and soaked. you sit up and lean forward, looking past your legs and onto his trailer floor. cum is splattered onto the flooring, some of it dripping down his thigh. "you came from giving head?"

• "how could i not have?" johnny's sheepish at your observation, but owns up to it quickly as he tucks it back into his slacks. "you're incredible." his face is tinted pink.

• "you're too sweet," you giggle, and johnny helps you down from the vanity as your legs wobble. giving up on finding wherever the hell your pants went, johnny leaves for a moment and returns with a pair of pajama pants, presumably a pair he kept in the trailer for his princess naps.

• "look who's talking... hey, speaking of sweet," johnny laughs, rubbing his hands together. "you and me wash up, and we have some cake, yeah?"

• "i like that plan," as you jump into the pants. johnny visibly tenses up seeing your breasts bounce from the jump, and he can't ignore the way your thighs and ass jiggle. "where did i put it, anyway?"

• you both look around the trailer for a moment, the memory of placing the cake down hazy among the rest of the event. you let out a small gasp, realizing that the cake was on the vanity, the one you got fucked out on... or rather, it was. the cake was splattered on the floor, frosting spread out and depressingly smeared anywhere it could reach. you frown, and johnny hovers behind you as you both look over the mess.

• "that sucks," johnny sighs, but his voice sounds uplifting. "that's alright, i ate something better."

• "don't be gross," you giggle, swatting at his form behind you. "that was perfectly good cake."

• "we can make another," johnny offers. "together. and i'll make sure you spell it right this time." his arms wrap around your middle, pulling you in close and breathing in the scent of your hair. the sweat, perfume and natural smell you carried always drove him wild, but he was now comfortable enough to bury himself in it. you lean into his touch, sighing as the heat from your bodies provides the perfect comfort.

• "happy birthday, johnny," you mumble softly, rocking back and forth in his arms. johnny responds into your hair, his voice breathy and warm.

• "thank you, doll."

[chaifootsteps]

for anon who was frustrated - things have come a long way already, so don't lose heart

Most of Hazbin's reviews were lukewarm and a lot of Internet reviewers said it was a massive disappointment compared to the pilot. Helluva Boss has seen a massive drop in views and there's pretty clear signs that they're struggling to get the support they once did outside of that, given they're doing often subpar quality merch drops after every episode (even shorts!) now.

The Full Moon/Apology Tour releases have really turned off a lot of the audience who are realizing what others have been warning them about for a long time - Stolas is likely never going to be held accountable in a way that makes what a sucky character he is, instead Viv is just going to keep trying to retcon and engage in other bad writing to dig herself out of a hole of her own making in order to push an OTP that even some of its most die hard stans seem increasingly disillusioned with. I'm seeing a lot more discontentment with the show, especially the Stolas shilling, on the once positive Helluva Boss reddit. and once the rest of the episodes come out at the end of the year, if Stolas sees no meaningful consequences at all and is just woobified again then it's going to get harder for fans to keep coping and using the 'it'll get good if you just wait!' excuse

And I don't think people will forget the mess around Poison that easily, especially since the pile of evidence of unprofessional/exploitative behavior from Viv and Spindle is growing. Crediting and bad pay issues are increasingly common to hear about nowadays and the claim that Spindle is 'indie' is starting to ring increasingly voice now its own that outsourcing to Toon City is going on. Not to mention that Viv seems to get into Twitter drama every other month, which isn't helping

Meanwhile, all the pilot cast that everyone loved that she tossed to one side (which there's evidence of) are going on to do bigger and better things in communities that actually care for them. Lackadaisy and TADC are really stealing the indie thunder and they're far better quality made by (in LD's case, can't speak for Glitch) much more ethical and supportive production houses, and Far Fetched is coming along at some point, too

Viv may never flame out the way people might be hoping she will. It might not be a big explosive downfall that gets someone to do a two hour YouTube expose that causes general awareness of the whole mess of stuff around Spindle. But I think there are enough signs that things are going south to trust that she's not going to make anything that's a classic, she's not going to be respected in the industry and she's not going to be able to keep it up forever

People keep comparing her to Butch Hartman but I kinda feel she might end up more like RWBY/Rooster Teeth did. RWBY started out with this real indie underdog spirit and had talented people on the staff (Monty and Shane, one who died tragically young and the other who left the company) but it all got squandered by the other, more amateur writing. They shared Viv's tendency to engage with criticism poorly (in their case, only responding to the bad faith stuff), they too were way too precious about their characters to give them real flaws as well as having Viv's tendency to let self inserts and faves steal the show, plus the amateurish and bad worldbuilding

I don't know if Rooster Teeth ever crunched and underpaid the way Spindle seems to, but since people often seem to put art before their consideration of whether it was made ethically, I think that will ultimately be Viv's downfall. Some of her fanbase are happy to ignore allegations of credit issue, crunch and embarassingly low wages so long as they get their demon show. But if their demon show keeps getting worse and worse (and taking longer and longer to come out), their attention will probably wander elsewhere, which has already started to happen

Combine that with anything that comes out as a result of NDAs expiring and my bet is Spindle will face consequences mostly in the form of more and more fans just quietly turning away from their show and them bleeding money more and more until it's unsustainable to hope to make all four seasons of HB unless the venture becomes wholly outsourced. Same with Hazbin - it might get renewed for more seasons but that doesn't mean those seasons will be good. The love and optimism people had towards Viv's work is just gone now. And if we're being real she's been trying to coast on goodwill from the HH pilot for a long time now

All important things to keep in mind. Thanks for this, Anon.

I think a lot of people are counting on this big, dramatic downfall of Vivziepop and for HH to be cancelled and then none of us have to hear about her ever again -- which isn't impossible, nothing's impossible -- but it's a lot more likely that each round of drama takes something out of her reputation, and eventually down the line she just kind of putters out, replaced by bigger and better shows.

Whether it got 1 season or goes on to have 12, Hazbin's legacy was always pretty safe. Viv's is a lot less certain.

[shuchu]

im not even a kyo stan but like 😳 imagining the trope where childhood friends get seperated for a while and when they reuinte again, person a is shocked at how much person b has changed and now person a is confused and flustered around person b 🥺

‧₊˚ ☁️⋅ different but familiar ₊˚ෆ

character(s): kyo kaneko

note: gn!reader ; fluff ; not proof read!

a/n: oh gosh i haven't written a proper fic in ages... i apologise if this is sloppy ;w; but hey, my first kyo fic o_o despite being a kyomie for a while now lol oops. i actually really enjoyed writing this, it made me feel all soft and warm on the inside hehe. this kinda ended on a cliffhanger, let me know if you guys want a part two!! thank you anon for the idea!! enjoy lovelies ♡

art credit

you were on your way to the coffee shop nearby to get your coffee before heading to work. you take a deep breath of the crisp autumn air as you walk through a carpet of leaves, hearing them crunch beneath your feet. you swing open the door and hear the little jingle of the bell before the delicious smell of freshly baked pastries mixed with the fragrant scent of coffee wafts towards your nose. a faint smile graces your features as you walk towards the counter to order.

"hi what can i get for you today?" the cheerful cashier asks.

"i'll have an oat milk cappuccino with 2 shots of espresso as well as a croissant please." you respond, giving the cashier a friendly smile.

"will that be all?"

"yep! thank you!"

just as you were about to pull out your card to pay, you see someone reach forward to tap their card on the machine. you turn to your left to see who it was. a guy with light blue hair smiles at you and says, "my treat."

as you walked over to the collection counter with him, you were trying to figure out why this guy looked so familiar. did you know him?

and then it hit you...your eyes widened as you looked at him

"kyo?"

he turned towards you with a soft chuckle, "took you long enough."

"oh my gosh...i haven't seen you in..." your voice falters as you try to recall the number of years

"thirteen years." he says as he looks at you with a small smile

"oh wow...it's been that long huh? how've you been? i hope mr. and mrs. kaneko have been well."

"oh yeah i've been busy, got a job that literally takes up all of my time. my parents are doing good though, thank you for asking about them."

"so...what brings you back to our quaint little town?"

"well...my mom and dad wanted to meet some old friends and catch up with them. i've been working tirelessly for months without a break so i decided..."

kyo's voice drifts off, melting together with the background ambiance of the coffee shop as you stare shamelessly at him, noticing the changes in his appearance since you last saw him.

oh wow, when did he get his ear pierced? his face changed a lot...it's a lot more defined now. also, he shot up so much what the heck?! i was taller than him when we were kids...that's so unfair, why do guys get so much taller after puberty...wait, was he always this handsome...?

"hey...hey y/n...are you done checking me out?" kyo's voice gets clearer again as you snap out of your thoughts. you feel your cheeks heat up after getting caught staring at him and because of the close proximity between the both of you. he leaned in to get your attention and now both of your faces were just a few inches apart.

you avert your gaze to compose yourself and mumble, "i wasn't checking you out..."

he leans back and chuckles, "uh huh...so tell me what i said then." he teases, a smirk evident on his face.

you stay silent because obviously you didn't hear what he said, he chuckles and flicks your forehead gently, "you haven't changed a bit, always spacing out."

you move your hand to rub the spot he flicked with a pout, "quit it, you're still as annoying as you were back then." you giggle after and he laughs too. it felt nice to joke around with him again. your heart swells with happiness, you've missed him — more than you thought you did.

the barista calls out your name and you go to grab your order.

"i'm assuming you're headed off to work now, where do you work by the way?"

"oh it's just 3 blocks down, that massive office building?"

"oh yeah, i know which one you're talking about. what time do you get off work?"

"6pm."

"oh perfect, i'll see you then. we need to have a proper catchup. dinner's on me too." he says with a boyish grin.

"no that's okay, i can-"

"nuh uh uh, no can do. um...i'm sure you have to start walking, it's almost 9am. you don't wanna be late to work do you?" he says as he places his hands on your shoulders and swivels you around to face the direction of your office.

you click your tongue and start walking, turning your head back to respond to him, "we'll see mr kaneko. i'll have my card ready this time."

"byeee! good luck at work! i'll see you at 6!" he calls out as he waves at you

you wave too and turn back around with a sappy smile on your face, your cheeks flushed. well that's something to motivate me to get through work today

[juyeonszn]

AND THEN THERE IS YOU

PAIRING ju haknyeon x f!reader (gn technically since there are no gendered terms)

WORD COUNT 1.17k

GENRES fluff ﹒very slight angst like blink and u miss it

WARNINGS another fic of mine that doesn’t require an 18+ warning… fawn in her tamed era 🙏, ur heart will ache from how </3 this is, mentions of divorce, reader had kind of a shitty childhood, reader also has some intimacy issues, hak is the most patient and kind person ever, throws up everywhere bc me when </3

SUMMARY he was content loving you until you were ready to love him.

MORE ANDDDDD my insanity strikes again!!!!1!1!1! aka in my dr. seuss william shakespeare edgar allan poe steven king arc 😍 my inspiration has been crazy lately, so enjoy this before juyeonszn goes into a drought deeper into the semester 😭 ANYWAYS MAE (@maessseongs) HERE U GO!! i kept it fluffier and kinda short bc it just felt right, i hope that’s okay with u! this is the last request from my 100 followers event so far ✨ prompts used are: 2, 7 >:)

PERM TAGLIST @winterchimez @maessseongs

Relationships were a weird concept to you. Growing up, you’d never really been shown affection. Your parents weren’t the type to pack your lunch for school in the morning and send you off with a peck on the cheek followed by an ‘I Love You’.

In fact, they never told you that they loved you very often. Maybe a handful of times in your whole life did you hear those three words uttered from them. And even less did you hear that they were proud of you. It was worse when you took a step back and watched their own crumbling marriage.

As long as they’d been together, you never heard them tell the other how much they were appreciated. They fought more than they got along. You usually fell asleep to the sound of doors slamming and loud arguing in the hallway. When they finally decided to get a divorce, you almost cried out of joy. They were draining more out of you than each other.

So, perhaps that had to do with your fucked up view of relationships as you became an adult. You could never fully comprehend what love was since you didn’t exactly have stellar role models. Boyfriends came and went, losing interest as soon as they realized how disconnected you were. Your heart was never truly in it.

And then, you met Haknyeon.

Sweet sweet Haknyeon, who only cared about your happiness and your well being. Haknyeon, who didn’t ask you for more than you could give. Who didn’t push you for answers when you shut him out. Who patiently waited on the sidelines while you rebooted yourself.

If there were a higher being out in the universe, they’d done an excellent job at putting all the best qualities into Ju Haknyeon. By some miracle or a stroke of luck, he found his way to you. You’ll always think that he deserves better than you, but you’ll also always be eternally grateful that you have him.

As summer takes its last breath and the air begins to chill, leaves wilting to the streets and crunching below the feet of passersby, your motivation to get up in the mornings has started its tumultuous decline. You don’t know what it is about the change in seasons that continues to put a damper in your mood as the years go on, but it’s become almost too much to bear. It was no longer a dull pressure in the pit of your stomach and the back of your mind. Now it was a heaviness that settled in your heart and weighed you down.

It was a Thursday evening and you were tucked into bed already, despite a peek of the sun still visible over the horizon. Your head was pounding despite the room being silent. You curl into yourself further just as your bedroom door creaks open. Haknyeon whispers an apology, going to exit the room when he sees the state you’re in.

It was standard for him to leave you alone until you were ready to talk. He knew you had a hard time opening up, considering what you’d grown up with, and he didn’t want to be the person who pestered you to tell him what was wrong. He wanted you to feel comfortable coming to him first. Haknyeon couldn’t handle being the reason you were pushed to your breaking point.

But for some reason, this time is different. You don’t want to be left alone. You want to be held. You want him to kiss your forehead and tell you he loves you, unlike what you had when you were younger.

“Hak, wait,” you call, voice slightly hoarse. “Stay. Please.”

He’s taken aback by your request, but doesn’t hesitate to follow through. He climbs into the bed behind you, wrapping his arms around your center. In spite of the fact that this wasn’t a usual occurrence, that cuddling was something you’ve only done a couple other times, he embraces you as if this was second nature for him. As if holding you in his arms was his very life source.

“Are you sure?” He asks softly, words spoken gently into your hair.

“Mhm, I want this,” you nod, nuzzling into his arm. “I have never felt this safe with anyone before.”

Haknyeon’s breathing stutters. You’ve never admitted this to him before, you’ve never ever said ‘I Love You’, but he’s always been willing to wait. He understood that this was a new territory for you. He was content loving you until you were ready to love him, even if it took months— even if it took years. That’s how much he cared for you. In his eyes, you were the reason there were stars in the sky. You were the reason why the sun rose in the morning and why the moon shone at night.

He kisses your temple. “I’ll be here to protect you.”

You turn in his arms to get a good look at his face. Because it was so rare that you were this close, you wanted to memorize his features from this distance. You trace his cheekbones and jawline with your thumb, eyes flickering down to his lips.

You lean forward, minimizing the gap between you to press your lips into a sweet kiss, almost as sweet as him. Haknyeon gasps out of surprise, but quickly reciprocates your affection, bringing up a hand to cup your face. He allows you to set the pace, to move at a speed you were comfortable with in case this was all you wanted.

When you pull back to catch your breath, he smiles, taking in how pretty you were. He could never get enough of you. He thinks that was his biggest flaw, being so greedy when it came to you. He couldn’t help but indulge himself every time you let him, though if it were a sin, he’d gladly commit it over and over again.

“However many years we have left, I wanna spend them all with you.”

You feel the tears dripping down your cheeks before you register that you’re crying. You couldn’t possibly fathom how Haknyeon came to find love in the form of you; the hollow shell of a person who’s never felt the warmth of another human in their life. You didn’t think you deserved someone like him. The only logical explanation was that you were a saint in a past life, and the higher being you mentioned earlier was rewarding you for it.

But even so, he loved you. Enough that he wasn’t afraid to spend the rest of his life with you waking up on the other side of the bed.

He swipes away some stray tears with the pad of his thumb and kisses your nose. You let out a small laugh, connecting your lips once more. It conveys all you want to say, but you know saying it out loud will make it concrete. It’ll solidify what you’ve been building up the courage to finally tell him.

“I wanna spend them all with you, too.”

© juyeonszn. do not steal, claim, or repost.

[vulgrados-best]

OFFSCREEN POST

Happy Birthday, Miguel

// TW Violence, Bullying, Dehumanization

Place: Tagtree Forest Date: September 18, 2024 Time: 5:45 PM

Another race. It had been a little over a week since the last one. Everyone was raring to go.

It wasn't much of a complicated race. In fact it was simple: get your flag at the top of the ridges and manage to get it back to the finish line before anyone else.

It had been a little bit of a hard race, but in the end Miguel pulled a manuever that they hadn't been able to do in a bit. I mean… Kinda hard to do a trick using trees when there's so little trees in Zapapico. It was a lil bit of a dirty trick but it got Miguel the lead.

Miguel managed to hold a solid lead for the rest of the track, and finished first.

As Miguel slid to a stop right past the finish line they let out a whoop of victory. "ANOTHER WIN FOR MIGUEL WOOOOOHOOOO!!!" Along with his trainer, Celcity let out a cry of victory as well.

"Let's wait for the others, huh Cel?" Miguel patted Celcity's neck and dismounted. In return Miguel got a chirr.

So they leaned against their mount, arms crossed, smug grin spread wide.

==

Ramona was the first one to get back and… well…. She was fed up. This smug motherfucker was pushing her limits and she was tired of it. So she was going to teach the prick a lesson. The moment Checkerboard was across the finish line, Ramona dismounted, and marched towards Miguel.

Mig's grin widened, there was even joy singing in their heart. They expected this to go like how winning a race against Maple went. They pushed off of Celcity and approached her in return. "Hey Ram' how's-" Before Miguel could finish, Ramona swung her fist directly into the Miguel's face, clocking their nose.

The swing caused Miguel to stumble back the few steps they had just taken. A sharp pain shooting through their nose. "HEY WHAT THE FUCK!?" Before Miguel could get another word in Ramona grabbed them by the shirt collar and got up in their face. "You think you're fucking better than us, huh!?"

Celcity rose up onto his hind legs and growled, threatening for Ramona to back off. He was not fond of anyone other than Maple laying his hands on Miguel… but he wasn't going to interfere with a fight between humans unless their trainer gave the go ahead.

Blood trickled from Miguel's nose. "What!? No-" Miguel's leg buckled instinctually as a sharp pain ran through it. As they go down they catch sight of Crescendo and Rafael a couple meters behind Ramona with stones floating around him. Stone edge… fuck.

Behind them Miguel can hear Celcity dart towards Crescendo. A fight is bound to ensue.

Of course the yanking and manhandling isn't done as Ramona grabs Miguel's face and holds them up just a bit. "You're much better down there, cheating bitch." Her words are hissed out with a venom.

Miguel growls and tries to bite at Ramona's hand, not wanting to just be thrown around without at least fighting back. Its as they attempt this they feel an arm wrap around their throat and pull them back and up.

"Don't go biting my sister, stupid mutt." Alvaro's voice is low in their ear, laced with threat. "DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Miguel tries to kick at his shins but their legs aren't in a position to do any damage, so they're left clawing at Alvaro's arms as he squeezes tighter.

"We only let you join us to be our little packmule, our gullible Lillipup who'd go fetch for us." Alvaro growled out, holding Miguel against them as his sister went in for a punch to the gut. He finally let Miguel go so they could fully drop to the ground, wind knocked out of them.

As Miguel's knees hit the ground they can feel the stones in their leg dig in deeper. Man that hurts like hell.

Footsteps crunch the dirt and leaves in front of them. A figure crouches down… it's Edwardo.

"Y'know, kid." Edwardo looks Miguel up and down. "You really should have known your place and kept to it. Would have made things less messy."

Scene fade to black

[tlouslut]

STEADY HANDS

Abby Anderson x fem!medic!reader

!!TLOU2 spoilers as well as spoilers for the future of the show!! Not proofread kinda bad but like it is what it is and it made me sad just sitting in my drafts.

————————————————————————

The days were long and hot in the summer. The warm weather meant for irritated scars and angry soldiers, which for you meant more injuries to treat. You had been a medic on the team for years now, ever since you could sew stitches and disinfect wounds with steady hands.

There were only a few times those hands shook. One was when you met her. Abby Anderson. All charm and strength. Her face had been scraped up pretty bad so when you held her chin to keep her steady she knew your hands were shaky.

“I’m Abby, by the way.” She greeted.

“Hi.” You said shyly before giving her your name. The rest of the interaction went by too quickly for your liking. Abby radiated warmth.

“Okay then, you should be good to go!” You smiled stepping away from her. Abby smiled back at you and you felt your heart stop.

“I’ll make sure to see you next time I get hurt.” Abby joked, you rolled your eyes at her.

“Don’t hurt yourself on purpose just to come by, if you wanna see me again just come find me. I’m usually down here unless a squad needs me.” You winked, a part of your heart delighted in the shade of pink her cheeks turned.

“I just might come find you then.” She fumbled for words making you laugh.

“I’m counting on it, Abby.” You flirted, putting an emphasis on her name and the way it rolled off your tongue.

Sure enough, once you invited her back Abby was almost always in your med bay, if she wasn’t with you she was with her friends. Sometimes they even came with her to visit you.

“Hey you!” Abby’s cheerful voice brightened your corner of the WLF base.

“Hi gorgeous.” You grinned at her. It’s been like this for a few weeks now, you would flirt with her sometimes she would flirt back or just blush and wave you off. You were just waiting for her to ask you to dinner or something. Anything.

“So, we’re going on a patrol soon, one of the lengthier ones around the whole city pretty much. It’s supposed to take a few days.” Abby sighed before throwing herself onto the cot beside your desk. You frowned turning to look at her, putting your scrawled notes you had been reviewing down.

“Who all is going?” You tipped your head to look down at her.

“It’s me, Nora, Manny, Owen, and hopefully you?” Abby winced as she asked. As if you could ever refuse her and her puppy dog eyes.

“Of course I’ll go. It’ll be nice to see you in your field since you’re always in mine.” You teased. Abby’s eyes lit up as she sat up and leaned forward to press a chaste kiss to your cheek.

“Thank you, don’t worry about being in danger or anything, I-we can keep you safe.” Abby stuttered. Your cheeks were flushed pink as you patted her muscular arm gently.

“I trust you Abs.”

The sun was shining when you all left the WLF base. The springtime warmth seeping into your bones, new growth crunching under your feet. The five of you moved quickly and quietly to the first checkpoint. Clearing a couple of infected on your way, runners wearing the WLF symbol always made your heart sink.

First checkpoint was an old library, always to the top floor and barricaded some way that infected couldn't get to it. This time, the entrance to the floor you needed to go to is a hole in the ceiling. But Abby was more than happy to boost you up. When the sun began to set and food was dished out, Abby set her sleeping bag up next to yours with a soft smile.

"So, what made you want to be a medic?" Owen asked politely as he began to eat.

"When the WLF found me, they needed stitches sewn and infections cured. My mom taught me everything I know, but she's long gone now. It feels like honoring her I suppose." You explained with a small shrug. Abby scooched a little closer to you, sympathy and awe etched into her features.

"My dad was a doctor, he was murdered. He would have loved to meet you and talk all about medical stuff and cures." Abby said wistfully. You placed a hand on her shoulder gently.

"I would have loved to meet him."

Days came and went, turning into weeks, months, before Abby finally had the balls to ask you out. Then months turned into a year, but a year and a half in was when something shifted in the air around Abby.

“I found him.” She had run down to the medic station to find you. “Well I found a lead on him.” She breathed out, you could only blink in confusion.

“Joel. Miller. The man who murdered my Dad. We’re going to go find him.” Abby explained. Your heart sank into your chest as she told you where she found the lead. So far away from the home you had made in Washington.

It took a week for them to get the supplies they needed to leave, a week of arguing with Abby.

“I can’t risk you.” Abby pleaded. Your quiet anger and frustration clear in your eyes. In the tenseness of your shoulders as you soaked in those lovely words.

“I don’t give a fuck. I have to come with you, who is going to keep you safe?” You asked outraged.

“Mel is coming with! She will be our medic. You can’t come. You’re needed here, I need you here.” She breathed, her warm hands cupping your nape, her other hand idling at your hip.

“What about what I need? What about the fact that I need you here? Stay. He doesn’t get to be more important than this, than us.” You begged, tears in your eyes.

“I’m sorry, I love you.” Abby whispered, resting her forehead against yours.

“Come back to me.” You whispered letting Abby kiss away your protests, her mouth wiping away the tension in your body.

When you woke in her bed, wearing her clothes, she was gone.

“She’s back.”

Those two words changed the trajectory of your entire day. You’d been waiting for months to hear those two words. Months of anxiety filled torment, sleepless nights as her scent faded from your bedsheets, and nightmares of what could’ve happened.

Though your relationship with Abby was kept secret to a majority of the WLF, people weren’t blind. They took note of Abby’s smiles and your lingering hands when you patched her up. People loved to whisper about such things. Abby was a defining member of the WLF, someone high ranked and respected, but you were a simple medic with steady hands.

Steady hands that shook when the group approached your medic booth. Tears blurred your vision as you saw her, standing tall and proud in the chilled winter air, your Abby. Steady hands began to shake once Abby was seated before you, ready to be checked over.

“Hi.” She said quietly, her eyes bore into yours as the tears escaped. “Love… say something.” Abby begged. You cupped her face, Abby pulling at your hips to get you in her lap. Once you had your hands around her neck and we’re crying into her neck did you finally say something.

“I missed you so much.” You whispered into her hair. Abby tightened her hands around your waist, and you stayed like that. Ignoring your patients and just holding your Abby. Soon the sun began to set the nighttime cold could be felt and Abby stood, still holding you.

So you let Abby kiss away your whispers of complaints of missing her. Let her lips remove the weight of anxiety you hadn’t realized you had gripped so tightly on to. Letting her hands steady your own.

You had thought you’d be angry when she came home, but the only thing ringing in your head was that she was home. Home in your arms.

[porchlightfairy]

Shoot for the Moon part 1

part 1 | part 2

rockstar!eddie x reader

summary: Eddie returns home under particular circumstances.

warnings: major character death. cancer mention

wc: 1.4k+

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

You and Eddie were high school sweethearts. The true definition of forever. Everyone thought you two were soulmates. You supported Eddie through his music and he was so happy to start a family with you. You guys had gotten married young and you were ready to settle down and start a family.

But at the same time Eddie’s music career was moving rather quickly. You had discussed that if anything major were to happen you would stick together through it all. But that changed once Eddie was given the chance to perform to music producers. It seemed like everything you built in your lives came crumbling down. It had been several weeks since you and Eddie had seen each other. It was like you were playing chase on the telephone not being able to get ahold of one another long enough.

Eddie sat at the payphone in the venue praying that you would pick up. He was in California while you were probably in bed in Indiana. After the second to last ring, he hears the line pick up, “Hello?” You mumble.

“Hey baby! I know it’s late but I let the week slip by and I forgot to call you earlier. There’s just been a lot going on—”

“Eddie, it’s 2 in the morning. You thought now was a good time to call?” You sigh

“I know, I know, I’m really sorry. A lot has been going on, I’m sorry.”

“It seems like you can’t answer the phone when you tell me when to call but now is a good time for you. Whatever it is, I am sure it can wait.” You grumble, “Eddie, I’m tired and I don’t want to deal with this, I’ve got errands to run in the morning. Call me at a reasonable hour?” 

“Wait, baby, let me just tell you—” The line goes dead. Eddie hangs up the phone. He wouldn’t be able to call you back. You never seemed to be around to answer his calls. And his uncle claimed to not see you around either. You had drifted too far apart for him to even talk to you.

Years had passed and Eddie was on the up and up with his band Corroded Coffin. They were on the cover of Rolling Stones, reached the top 100 of Billboard, and accumulated millions through album sales and concert ticket sales. 

Being the frontman of the group came with its perks as well. He was everyone’s favorite and had a tendency to be abrasive. Chicks on his arm every night, signing boobs, and just being all around vulgar. And even as the group got older they were still the same. However, as things start to slow down for their music careers, Eddie is going to get some terrible news.

He wakes up in a plush bed tangled in sheets and limbs, he slips out of bed and heads downstairs for some breakfast. When he reaches the bottom step he sees his manager and the rest of the band sitting in his living room with sullen faces. “Jesus, who crapped in your guys’ captain crunch.”

“Eddie,” His manager, Bobby, sighs.

He laughs at his own joke not hearing his manager speak before heading into the kitchen to get something to eat. “Well, since you guys are here, we should talk about the next album, sounds good?”

“Eddie.” He says again.

“Look, I know what you’re going to say. We should be keeping up appearances for right now but I was kinda hoping for a rebrand of some sort, like a new paint job or—”

“Eddie!” Bobby shouts. Eddie stops in his tracks, “Just stop for a minute okay. We need to talk.”

“About what?” He scoffs, “Why do you all look like someone died?”

“Because,” Bobby sighs again, “Your ex-wife, Eddie, she passed away.”

Eddie’s heart sinks into his stomach and his ears begin to burn red hot. He couldn’t be hearing that right. You were dead. Gone. No longer living, existing anymore? He swallows hard and blinks a few times, “What… uh… what happened? What happened to her?”

“Cervical cancer.” Bobby looks to the floor. “It was unexpected, her lawyer contacted me and it appeared unexpectedly….”

He can’t hear anymore. He recalls the last time he saw you, in the courthouse for your divorce. You both sat in silence as you negotiated with each other the circumstances, alimony and the like. You didn’t want any of his new money, you just wanted the marriage to be nullified.

He sits on a stool and lets out a shaky breath. “Eddie? Eddie? Did you hear me?”

“Huh?” His face had gone pale, “What… what’d you say?”

“You should take some time, go back home, and go to the burial.” Bobby says. “I know your head is probably swimming right now so we’re going to go but please Eddie, don’t stay here in darkness, okay?”

Each of his bandmates give him a pat on the shoulder and a hug for comfort before taking their leave. Eddie throws out the people in his bed and he slowly begins to pack. With a shaky hand he dials his uncle’s number. He holds his breath as he waits for an answer. He felt ashamed that this was the only time that he had actively sought out for his uncle. Now that you are dead.

“Hello?” He hears the familiar grovel of Wayne’s voice on the line.

“Hey, Wayne. It’s been, it’s been a long time huh?” Eddie hears the quiver in his own voice.

There’s silence on the other end, “So you heard.”

“Y-yeah,” He clears his throat, “I’m packing now to come home. I know, its fucked up of me but I just I need to.”

“I understand, son. I’ll be waiting for ya.” He says.

And with that, the call ends and Eddie sits in silence as he prepares himself to go back home. The musician gets a red eye flight to Indianapolis where he would take a greyhound all the way to his uncle’s house.

Eddie felt his heart sink as he got closer and closer to his destination. He hadn’t visited home since leaving it all behind. The divorce was the last time he set foot in Hawkins. Packing his stuff in a moving van and never seeing you again. His heart twangs as he thinks about it.

Soon he arrives at his uncle’s hand and sees the man waiting outside for him. “Eddie,” He stands up as Eddie approaches. They hug in a familiar embrace, then Wayne packs her back. “You look good.”

Eddie lets out a soft chuckle, “Heh, not like you don’t see me on the tv all the time.”

“Mmh, good to see you in person.” He holds the younger man’s face in his hands. His eyes were saddened. “Eddie, I’ve got to tell you something important.” He holds Eddie’s shoulder as he walks they walk into the house.

Instantly, Eddie is hit with a sudden warmth from the house. It felt lived in. He walks further into the house when he notices several frames in the living room. “Eddie, listen, a lot has happened since you’ve been gone. And she really didn’t want to say anything about it because…” Wayne watches as Eddie steps closer to the frames. He has trouble forming the words as Eddie looks at the pictures on the wall.

Eddie stares intensely at the images. There was you smiling with a black and white ultrasound photo in your hand. Next to that was a picture of you and Wayne, he had his hand on your stomach and you had little pink booties in yours. It’s a girl was spelled on a banner above your heads. 

Eddie’s ears grew hot as he continued to look at the photos. There was a picture of you in the hospital holding a baby in your arms, tears in your eyes. Then a first birthday, then a second, third and so on. This little girl is at the center of them all. She had a beautiful smile like her mom and large brown eyes. Eyes that stared back at him everytime he looked in the mirror.

“She didn’t want to tell you any of this. She thought it was for the best that you didn’t know her.”

Eddie’s lip quivers, his mouth is dry as he stares in disbelief. Just as he is about to speak he hears footsteps traveling down the stairs, “Grandpa have you seen mom’s…” Eddie turns around and sees a young girl standing on the steps. A spitting image of her mother except those eyes, the pools of primordial darkness that stared back at him.

“Are you… Are you my dad?”

[phantomrose96]

It's been a really messed up week at work.

I learned on Monday that 3 of my coworkers were being laid off. Two were under different managers, but one was a guy I've known since I started and he's been with the company almost 25 years. The layoffs were unexpected, and came right after a huge crunch-time for product launch, and I've been crazy upset for Ulli. Like how do you give 25 years to a company and then someone who's never seen your face just decides to let you go. Since it's a layoff, the decision came from outside our org and our managers/skip-level had no say in it happening.

One of the other guys, Jason, I didn't know well but he's been here 17 years and he was about to close on a house. Now he's out of a job and the bank won't give him a mortgage so just. Fuck you, no house. And this is after putting down the earnest money which is like, a deposit proving you're serious. If it was the 5% earnest money, that was probably like $30,000-$50,000 he won't get back.

The third person didn't reveal themselves, but like on Monday afternoon we had our usual weekly team watercooler chat and like... I made it known how upset I was and how scummy I found this. And I'm an easy crier (I've gotten better in adulthood, but the last couple months have been hard so my ability to not cry has dipped a lot I guess). But like, there was no one in the room with any power here. Layoffs are a faceless corporate decision.

And it was all extra scummy to me because the company is doing well. And they're projecting all this optimism about the future. But the stock price isn't making shitty wallstreet bros happy enough, so corporate decided to layoff 10,000 people--and that was a slow-drip of layoffs between January and March, which were going to be complete by end of March, and they waited for like practically March 31st to hit us.

So that was all... Monday... Tuesday morning I overslept (cuz I didn't sleep well Monday night) and woke up late so I like, kinda just jumped to my work computer. And there was an email from my skip level titled "Sad news about Alexei".

Since the third person to get laid off hadn't identified themselves, it sounded like Alexei was the third layoff. That didn't sit right with me because Alexei was a super super prolific engineer. Like I cannot overstate how prolific. He had a hand in everything. Even if you hadn't worked with him, you knew him. So I could just feel like something was wrong.

So I clicked the email. He died on Sunday evening. My skip-level only just found out and was informing everyone. I literally have an email in my inbox rescheduling a meeting that Alexei sent Sunday morning.

I didn't personally know Alexei all that well, but so many of my coworkers did, some for 24 years, and it's really really obvious how much this has rattled everyone. My project lead Ransom has been out most of the week, in part for the funeral and in part just taking bereavement time. Ransom is the main person I'm coordinating with, and we were just kicking off planning for next steps, so it feels like everything's in this artificial standstill.

And like... maybe I shouldn't phrase it like that. I did know Alexei. But I didn't "24 years" know him.

And now like, all the activity on Teams is either stuff beyond our org happening in the peripheral, or people within our org contributing thoughts and stories about Alexei.

For the last couple days I've been getting up intending to do work. But then I just kinda aimlessly stare at my remote desktop like it might do something. If I had some mindless tasks, I could do those, but my tasks right now are more like deep investigations and my brain won't turn on enough for those, and Ransom's not around to coordinate with. So I've mostly ended up just like... going and taking a nap and logging a sick day. I've also been so extremely tired.

It's been messed up...

[workingforthewidow]

“Find someone who grows flowers in the darkest parts of you”

—

Happy birthday Bo and Vincent!

Welcome to the party of the year! And by part I mean an 11K kinda angst at times story. Welcome to part 5! Read part 4 here!

This story is NSFW and not for minors- if you are under 18 go ask your legal guardian if you can watch the movie.

Warnings: kidnapping, forced marriage, dub-con, attempted non-con, abuse, Stockholm syndrome, age gap (15 years- K&C are 19 Sinclairs are 33 soon to be 34 yes we will have a birthday party for them). Don’t like it don’t read it,

THIS CHAPTER HAS VERY DARK SCENES! This chapter contains abuse and twisted emotions. This is a work of fiction.

It had been a week since Caroline had seen her sister. A week where the only person she saw was Bo. After their day spent at home he started taking her to the shop with him and taking her for walks in the mornings. And in the evenings after dinner they would lay on the couch and watch whatever show was on. Bo will never forget the way her eyes lit up when an old western called “Maverick” came through.

“Katie, Daddy, and I watched this together. Daddy loved this show. Though I prefer Brett episodes, this one is a Bart.” She then talked over the entire episode explaining the shows background to him but he didn’t mind. She could tell him about watching paint dry and he would be hooked to every word.

Finally on the eighth day she mustered up the courage to ask him about Katie. She had been good, she had deep cleaned the living room, their bedroom, the hallways, and had even gone over the kitchen again. He had left her alone that day too. Telling her he trusted her.

“You’ve been a good girl all week babygirl. Why don’t we try to see if you can be good and follow the rules while I’m at work?” He asked her over breakfast and she nodded happily. “I’ll try to be back for lunch but don’t stress over making something. Focus on dinner. And don’t forget what to do when I get home, probably around 6.”

He stood up and she followed him to the door, “Have a nice day, Bo.” She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him sweetly. He pulled away and placed one more kiss to her forehead before heading out to the shop.

She spent the day tidying up the already clean house. Then she inventoried the kitchen. She hoped Katie would fall into the routine she made- no she can’t think like that. They were getting out of here. They weren’t staying here. Once she reminded herself of this she started looking closer at the house. Looking for any place they could escape or anything that could be used as a weapon. Bo and Vincent were a lot bigger then the girls so taking them down won’t be easy. She spent the rest of the day making a list in her head to share with Katie when she had the chance. At 5 o’clock she made it back to the kitchen and started prepping their dinner. She started really missing Katie so she made one of their favorite meals- chicken Alfredo with broccoli and garlic bread.

Earlier that week she had cooked meatloaf and a side of green beans and carrots. She thought Bo’s eyes were going to fall out of his head. It took a lot of begging for him to try the vegetables but he finally did and begrudgingly said they were good.

When the clock chimed 6 o’clock she heard tired crunching over the gravel in front of the house. Luckily she was at a good pausing point in the recipe. Everything was done she was just mixing the chicken into the sauce. She opened the fridge and got a beer, quickly opening it before walking to the front door.

She waited for him to open it and when he did he was smiling at her. She kissed him and gave him his beer.

“Knew you’d be a good girl, baby. Dinner smells good.”

“Thank you. I haven’t made it in a long time. So I hope it taste good too.” She took his hand and they walked into the kitchen. He sat at the table and she plated their food sitting it on the table and getting herself a glass of water. She sat down and they started eating. Bo told her about his day, the most exciting part being the fox that got locked in his shop during the night. She smiled and nodded along with his stories building her courage to ask.

“You want something. I can tell by the look on your pretty face. Tell me.” He took her hand and smiled at her.

“Umm, well, umm. It’s just been a week since I saw Katie and I was wondering if maybe tomorrow we could have breakfast as a family again. You and me and Vincent and Katie, Lester if he’s in town. Or… or dinner if you have to be up early for work. I promise I’ll be good. I know better now. I know how to be good for you. Please, Bo.” She squeezed his hand and gave him a pitiful pleading look.

He squeezed her hand back and smiled at her, “I’ll talk to Vincent baby. I have more things to clean up in the shop from that damn fox but family dinner does sound nice.”

“I can help you. I can come help clean up the shop. I’ve sorta cleaned the whole house already and then cleaned it again. I’m kinda bored now. And I got lonely today without you. Even took a shower earlier than usual just for something to do.” She continued to hold his hand. She had gotten so use to seeing him all day everyday the last week.

“I missed you too babygirl. Why don’t you go get ready for bed while I shower then we can go to bed?” He asked her putting the dishes in the sink. She stood up and went to wash up the dishes before answering but he took her hand. “Take a break from it baby for tonight. Go upset and wait for me. Put on your cute little pajamas and get in bed.” She just nodded and followed him up the stairs.

She put on a cotton pajama tank top and shorts set and waited for him. She went over her list she had made earlier of ways out or things to use against them. Once her and Katie could cook together they could put bleach in their food maybe. Or some other chemical. Once they were trusted wit the knives they could stab them. None of the windows looked like they could open and the doors were too obvious.

She was lost in her head and didn’t see Bo come into the room. It wasn’t until his hand was on her thigh that she snapped back to reality. His hand ran up and down her thigh as he started kissing her neck. “Damn baby, you could be wearing a potato sack and I think I’d get a hard on.” His hand traveled higher up her thigh, his fingers brushed against the edge of her panties. She tensed and her breathing shallowed. “Sweet girl, daddy’s gonna make you feel so good.” His voice was lower as he whispered in her ear and his eyes were dark with lust. She bit her lip and put her hand over his in an attempt to stop him.

“Bo, can… can we just…” His head snapped up from her neck and he smirked.

“Oh babygirl, don’t tell me you’re a virgin. Pretty little thing like you never had someone going after her? Or were you being a good girl and waiting for your husband?”

Her mother’s words rang through her mind and she repeated them aloud, going into a trance, “Good men want good pure girls with their ring on her finger in their marriage beds.”

He laughed and kissed her next again, “Is that the problem baby? I didn’t put a pretty little diamond on your finger before calling ya my wife? I’ll get you a ring. Take ya out tomorrow to pick whichever you want.” His hand went back to her legs trying to open them.

Her mind started racing and her breathing was shaking, “Please Bo. I’ll do something else for you just not this. Not now. Please.” She begged. She didn’t want to lose her innocence to her kidnapper.

He rolled his eyes and huffed, “Fine babygirl. But tomorrow you’re getting that ring and then giving me what I want. Or I’ll take it.”

“Thank you. That means a lot to me.” Maybe he wasn’t so bad. If he really was going to take her by force he would just do it now. But he was waiting, sure he had made the threat but that was just to scare her. Maybe he could be kind.

“Whatever makes you happy babygirl.” He kissed her and laid down pulling her to his chest. He brushed his fingers through her hair until she fell asleep. Tomorrow night he’d have his fun, no matter how much she begged.

—

Vincent started taking Katie on walks around the town in the evenings before he got their dinner from Caroline. Ambrose really wasn’t that big of a town. And he even explained the plans to her (he withheld the dead people part though, couldn’t give her too much at once). She thought the idea was amazing. She actually said that. She liked Mama’s idea. They had walked the whole town and ended at the old antique store. Her eyes widen, she loved antique stores. She tried looking in the windows but it was hard to see. She turned to Vincent and was about to ask if she could go in, but he already had the key in hand to open the door. She smiled and clapped happily nearly skipping inside.

He pulled his small notebook from his pocket and wrote for her.

~I have to turn on the lights in the basement. You can stay here.~

She could fell the unspoken, well unwritten, ‘be good, follow the rules’. “Okay but be quick or I might just start feeling around with my hands.” She teased with a wide smile. He nodded and made his way down to the basement where the control panel was held.

While she waited she used what little like was seeping in to look at the jewelry counter that was placed under the windows. She assumed when the windows were clean and the sun shined on them the diamonds would shine. She squinted to try and look at the jewels then heard the sound of old lights flicker on. It took a moment but the lights made their way on lighting up the room. She was able to fully see the counter now.

She had always loved jewelry. That was one of the few things she and Caroline had in common. There were necklaces, bracelets, rings, and other items. All somehow still shiny and pretty. She saw the opening to enter behind the counter and moved to it. The cabinets weren’t locked and she was able to pull out a tray of rings. She picked over them pulling out a few she liked and tried them on. She had just pulled out a shining deep blue sapphire oval held in white gold when she heard footsteps and looked up to see Vincent.

“They’re so beautiful.” She admired the ring under the lights. “This one is my favorite.” She showed him the sapphire ring she was holding. He took it from her and held it in under the light himself. She was right, it was beautiful. As beautiful as her.

An idea formed in his head and he took her left hand in his. He slowly took the ring and slid it over her ring finger. He looked up to gauge her reaction. She smiled, one of his new favorite sights.

She put her hand next to his face, close to his eye, “The same color. Oh, you need one too.” She took his hand and looked back to where she had seen the more masculine jewelry. She took out a tray of white gold bands and took his hand trying to find one in his size. She found one she thought fit well and looked to him, “Does that fit? Not tight or loose?” He moved his fingers around and nodded at her. She smiled again and took his hand as they walked through the rest of the store. An hour or so later they were walking back to the house hand in hand.

“Vincent, um could maybe I see Caroline again soon? Please.” She asked him as while when they made it to their bedroom. He took both her hands in his and nodded. “Thank you darlin’.” He swore he died at that moment. The way her accent flared a bit at the pet name and the shine in her eyes made his hear skip a beat.

She pulled out of her oversized shirts and changed into it for bed. She crawled up the bed and watched him as he too changed for bed into clean boxers. Just as he was about to lay down next to her a knock came from the door.

“Vinny, come here. Gotta talk for a minute.” Bo’s voice rang through. In the dim lamp light she could barely see Vincent roll his eye. He patted her cheek and went out the door.

Bo went down stairs with Vincent following.

“Told Caroline we could have family dinner tomorrow if you agreed.”

Vincent nodded, glad Bo had brought it up instead of him having to do it.

“They are doing good. I think soon we can trust them alone.” Again Vincent nodded in agreement. He jerked his head upstairs. He had a pretty girl waiting for him. It was Bo’s turn to nod and follow his brother upstairs.

“I missed you.” Katie said as soon as he was back in the room closing the door. He smiled under his mask, which he slowly took off before laying in bed next to her. He carefully kissed her forehead and moved down to her lips. She returned his kiss with a little more passion.

Things started to heat up, her hands went to his hair and his went to her lower back. Before he knew it she had thrown her leg over him to straddle him. The kiss continued until she pulled away and started kissing his neck, nipping in some places, and licking in others. He moved his hands to her hips and stated rubbing circles on her thighs.

She felt him growing hard under her and she started to move her hips just a bit to tease him. Without warning he flipped them so he was on her. His hands roamed her body under her shirt and she sat up letting him remove it from her, tossing it to the floor. His hands moved up her again going to her breast. He stared kneading each breast sometime pinching a hardening nipple. His mouth went to her neck and traveled down towards her breast. His lips replaced one of his hands freeing it to go down her body to her thighs. She moaned as his hand danced along her thigh.

Her hands went to his hair and she raked her fingers through it, “Vincent, I should probably tell you, I’ve never done anything like this before. Mama raised good girls.”

Of course his angel was pure. His sweet pure angel who had saved herself for her husband, for him. He almost regretted not waiting for her. But there had been a few nights when he would go to Bo’s underground room to use one of the girls there.

He smile against her neck before moved to press a sweet kiss to her ear, whispering in his low rough voice, “I’ll take care of you angel. Be good for me.”

Just that alone made heat spreading to core. “Of course. Always good for you.”

He went back to kissing her neck and let his fingers go back to her thighs. She parted her legs and moved himself in between. His mouth moved back to her breast and he sucked one of her nipples into his mouth biting gently while his hand finally brushed against her core. Oh she was enjoying this, enjoying him. Her panties were soaked, his pride swell at the thought that he had done this to her. She was letting him do this to her. He released her nippled before going to the next one. He bit down the same time he allowed a finger to slip into her folds coating himself in her before slipping inside. She was tight, and he couldn’t even imagine how she would squeeze his cock.

She threw her head back and moaned loudly at the foreign feeling. His free hand flew up to cover her mouth. He really didn’t need Bo to hear them. Once she had recovered he moved his hand and sat up. His fingers hooked into her panties and she lifted her hips to let him pulled them down. Blood rushed to her cheeks as she watched him look at her most intimate area. He kissed between her breast and made a trail down until his face was level with her pussy. Her hands automatically went to his hair. Without warning he licked up her folds and flicked her clit with the tip of his tongue. One of her hands went to her mouth to hide her moans.

He started pumping his finger and slowly added a second trying to get her ready for him. He continued to finger her and flick her clit with his tongue until she was a morning begging mess beneath him.

He finally moved up to her face when she begged, “Please Vincent. Please I need you. Take me please.”

Vincent Sinclair was not one to deny his angel. He kicked his boxers off and rubbed himself through her folds wetting himself in her juices. Finally he lined himself up at her entrance and entered slowly, trying to allow enough time for her to adjust to his size. Even with her hand over her mouth she screamed loudly at first but he shushed her and calmed her, peppering kisses all over her face. Eventually her breathing even outed and he slowly stated to rock his hips into her.

She couldn’t describe the feeling of sex with Vincent. The only word that came to light was ‘right’. This was right, this was how things were suppose to be. But a part of her was telling herself this was wrong. He had taken her, he had hurt her. He wasn’t a good man. She should be running from him. She shouldn’t be doing this with him.

Yet she didn’t tell him to stop. In fact she begged him for more. It got to the point she could only speak his name in a plea as his lips pressed kisses to her neck and shoulders. Occasionally he would bite down making her moan and run her nails down his back or bite at his neck in return. She felt a coil in her belly start to tighten getting close to her release. Seeming as if he could read her mind his hand moved to play with her clit. She was over after that, darkness filled her vision and she saw stars as the tidal wave ran through her. Just as she was coming down from her own high she felt him tense as his release came sending hot ropes of cum into her. He pulled out slowly and she whined at the loss.

For a fleeting moment the haze cleared and she thought about what the consequences of this could be. But the moment he pressed his forehead to hers their breaths matching in gasps, the haze returned and all her thoughts pointed to him.

She raised a shaking hand to his face looking into his eye. She kissed him sweetly savoring this moment. She felt his fingers tracing on her hip and she realized he was ‘writing’ to her on her skin.

~Okay?~

“Yes, yes. More than okay, wonderful.” She could see him smile through her still blurred vision.

~Stay, be back.~

He kissed her forehead and stood pulling clothes on before leaving the room. He returned seconds later and she felt a warm wet rag cleaning her thighs. She hissed at the overstimulating feeling but he shushed her again. His other hand traced calming circles on her legs. Once he was satisfied he pulled her up into his lap, throwing the rag on the floor. She rested her head on his shoulder pushing her face into his neck. His fingers traced letters on her back.

~Shower?~

She nodded slowly against his skin, still coming back to reality. He sat her back on the bed and pulled her shirt over her head before taking her to the shower. He let her stand under the water and brushed his fingers in her hair. His hands moved down her body in soft caresses. They stay silent enjoying each other’s presence.

She let her mind drift off again. To a place where they could be happy. Where they had met under normal circumstances and could be normal. But then she probably wouldn’t have given him a second glance. Even if she did when she found out their age difference she would have shut everything down quickly. Yet here she was losing her innocence to a man nearly twice her age, who had kidnapped her, beat her, kept her away from her twin, and who had threatened her. A man who was currently looking into her eyes with love and admiration like she was a fragile doll and if he took his eyes of her she would shatter.

She didn’t even notice when he cut the water off. Or even the warm towel being wrapped around her, her arms moving on their own to secure it to her body. She felt like she was in a trance, going through the motions. He pulled her shirt back on her and gently pulled her to the bed. Once her head hit the soft pillow it was like all the emotions caved in on her at once.

She gulped air and started shaking. Everything, the good emotions, the bad emotions, her whirlwind thoughts. moved through her body. Tears poured down her cheeks and she saw no end in sight. She was so confused, not knowing what she wanted. She had been stuck in this town for barely a month and so much had happened. He was awful, beating her, separating her from Caroline, threats to her life. But he was also wonderful, showing her love in a way she had never felt before. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t okay. But sometimes maybe things didn’t have to be right or okay. Somethings could just be, her and Vincent could just be. It’s not anyone was waiting for her on the coast. They didn’t have plans made in stone. Just drive from Georgia to California and figure it out when they got there. No guarantees of finding a good life. They had money from their parents life insurance and the settlement from the train company. But that wasn’t always enough.

But he was here, here in this ghost town in Louisiana. In Ambrose, a town that wasn’t even on the map anymore, was Vincent. He made sure she had food, a home, and he would love her. And she would love him. And they would be happy.

Vincent took her in his arms and rocked her. Whispering in her ear with his low rough voice that she was okay and he would protect her. She stopped shaking and wiped her tears away. She looked up to him and held his face in her hands, he had gotten use to baring his face to her. And oh was it a beautiful face. Her beautiful demon. Because yes he was still the villain, but he was hers.

“Vincent,” her voice was soft and he looked to her, “I love you.” She kissed him gently, savoring him, loving him. She belonged to him now. He owned her heart.

—

“Looks like Vinny already brought your sister in here.” Bo said motioning to the lights being on in the abandoned antique store. He took her to the jewelry counter and let her play with different rings.

She tried several and finally narrowed it down to 2 choices.

“I don’t know. I like both of these. Which do you like?” She held up her hand where she had two rings stacked on her finger. Bo slipped them off and held them in his hands.

“Close your eyes.” He ordered and she obeyed. He took her hand and slipped the ring he liked back on her finger. “Open, baby.”

Her eyes flickered opened and looked at the gem on her finger. Her finger was wrapped in yellow gold and a bright shining blue sapphire stared back at her.

“Matches your eyes.” She said as she smiled at him and fiddled with the ring. She then took his hand and looked back to the jewelry counter. “Gotta find you one now. Gotta let everyone know you’re a married man. Let ‘em know you’re mine.”

The words falling from her lips were sweeter than any candy he’d ever eaten. His babygirl wanting to show others they belonged together. He smiled back to her and let her play with rings on his fingers until she was happy with a gold band.

She looked up at him with her big eyes, “Is this okay?”

“It’s perfect babygirl.” He pulled her to him and kissed her. His mind was wrapped in his thoughts of her when a thought randomly came to the forefront. “It’s Friday.” It wasn’t a question.

Caroline tilted her head in confusion, “Umm I guess. I don’t really know what day it is anymore.” She shrugged and tried to peak over his shoulder to look around the antique store.

“Gotta visit Mama. Haven’t seen her since you came home.” It was like he was on autopilot. Taking her hand walking her to the church, a place he hadn’t let her go before.

“Bo? Where are we going? To her grave?” Caroline asked as she tried to keep up with his long strides.

Bo didn’t answer but kept walking until they made it to the church. She could hear music playing. Was someone there? Vincent or Lester maybe? Did they do this every Friday?

Bo pushed open the door and dragged her into the simple sanctuary doorway. He dropped her hand and walked forward. Caroline on the other hand gasped. The room was full but not of people, there was a priest but his eyes never blinked, and in the center was the casket where Bo was kneeling. She took a closer look to the ‘person’ nearest her. Wax, they were wax figures.

She felt in her gut now was not the time to question anything. She simply tiptoed to Bo and knelt next to him. He took her hand and kissed her knuckles giving her one of the sweetest smiles shes ever seen.

“Mama, this is Caroline. You’d love her. Only had her a month and I can’t imagine life without her. Perfect woman for me. I bet ya picked her out for me. Sent her out to Ambrose for me to find.” Tears pricked at his eyes and he spoke to the wax figure of his mother. It was like he forgot Caroline was there, the way he was talking about her. “Real good girl too. Learning so fast. She’s perfect Mama. Inside and out. Heart of gold, sweetest little thing. And she’s beautiful. I can tell she’s gonna be a good little mama. Raise more Sinclairs to help finish what you started. I love her so much Mama. Never loved anyone the way I love her. Thank you for sending her to me, I love you Mama.”

He turned to Caroline and she gently wiped the tears from his cheeks. She left her hands on his face and smiled at him. “I really wanna kiss you right now but I don’t know how your Mama would feel about that?” The slight giggle in her voice made him smile and lean closer to her until their lips brushed.

“I don’t think she’d mind too much.” He kissed her pulling her as close as possible. Her hands found his hair and his ran up the back of her dress. He started to trail down her neck, nipping and kissing. She pulled his hair gently trying to stop him.

“Bo, love, take me home.” Her eyes lit up and he stood pulling her into his arms kissing her again. She jumped up wrapping her arms around him. He walked them out of the church, never once stopping their kiss. He put her in the truck and climbed in himself. Before he even started the truck he pulled her into another searing kiss.

The drive home only took 5 minutes but to Caroline it felt like a lifetime. Her body was heating up in both excitement and nerves. What if she disappointed him? What if he changes his mind about her? Thoughts blew around her brain but suddenly stopped at the feeling of his hand traveling up her thigh.

“You okay baby? Shaking like a leaf. Don’t worry babygirl I’ll treat you real nice.” He took her hand and kissed it before pulling her from the truck. She wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed him again in an effort to ground herself. Finally making it to the bedroom he tossed her on the bed and took his shirt off.

His hands ran up her legs and over her shorts to the button. The entire time his eyes were locked on hers full of love. He pulled off her shorts and panties in one go, her shirt following soon after. She felt her body getting hot as his hands and lips trailed her body.

He put his lips to her ear and shushed her softly, “Relax babygirl. You’ll be okay. My sweet good little wife. Gonna be so pretty when you’re all round with my baby.” He continued to whisper sweet things in her ear as he moved to get his jeans off.

He let his lips kiss down her neck, biting, kissing, and blowing cold air to her to make her shiver. His hand went to her folds and he ran a finger through her wetness again making her shiver against him. Slowly he slipped a finger inside of her and he marveled at how tight she was and how her pussy tighten around his finger.

“Damn baby. Gonna feel so good to fuck you. Make you feel so good.” All he got in response from her was a moan. He added another finger getting her ready for him. He almost thought he would break her, she was so tiny.

She moaned and whimpered, bucking her hips up trying to get friction. “Bo, please more. So good.” Her eyes had already glazed over in a trance under his control.

He kissed her neck and moved his fingers faster, “Gotta get you ready for me babygirl. Don’t wanna break my little wife, yet.” He smirked as she tightened around him again. His thumb went to her clit and he knew she was close. Right as she reached the edge he pulled his hand away making her cry out.

“Wh…why…” She tried to speak but he shoved his fingers in her mouth the moment her mouth was open. “Shh baby, if you’re gonna cum its gonna be on my cock. All that baby, thats from me. Only I can make you feel this good. No other man, no one, not even yourself.” He lined his tip up to her entrance and slowly pushed in. “This pussy is mine. I own your body. I give you pleasure and I take my pleasure from you. You’ll be a good wife won’t ya? Giving yourself to your husband.” He started to move and her eyes went wide as he continued to speak, “Tell me Caroline, tell me you’re mine.”

“Yours Bo. I’m yours. Belong to you. Only you.” The words were slurred as she stayed in the trance he had put her in.

“Good girl. Good girl.” He praised her and he continued to rock his body into her.

She had always heard the first time hurt, some even said unbearable pain. But she didn’t feel anything but pleasure and happiness. It’s like she was made for him. He kept a steady pace and left multiple bite marks on her neck and chest. She in turn nipped at his neck and raked her nails down his shoulders causing him to groan.

“Fuck babygirl. Let go for me baby. Cum on my cock.” He threw his head back as releasing into her just as her eyes squeezed shut. Her mouth falling open as she screamed his name. He rode out his orgasm until he had pumped her full of his cum. He flipped them so she laid on his chest while he was still inside her.

She started shaking again, the aftershocks of such an intense organism effecting her. Bo kissed her and ran his hands down her back whispering praises to her.

“Good girl. You did so good babygirl. Make me so happy. Perfect little wife. Gonna be such a good mama to our babies.” The praise made blood rush to her cheeks as her breathing finally slowed and she came out of the trance he had put her in. “I love you babygirl.”

She lifted the upper half of her body and looked at him, putting her forehead against his letting their noses touch. She smiled and kissed him, “I love you too, Bo.” The words came out slow as she yawned.

He finally slid out of her and wrapped his arms around her. “Take a nap baby. We’ll shower when you wake up. You’re safe.”

—

The next day passed like a blur. It seemed once Vincent got a taste of his angel it became a drug. They spent the whole day in bed. Hours went by and it got to a point where it seemed the only words in the English language that Katie could even mumble were ‘more’, ‘please’, ‘love you’, and his name. That one she screamed. He would have tried to silence her if not for the fact the walls in the house were thin and he could Bo’s name screamed in similar fashion from Caroline.

He didn’t think Katie noticed her sisters voice at all. He was her everything at the moment. Nothing in the world mattered to her in that moment but Vincent. By evening he had enough clarity to realize they hadn’t eaten at all. He was about to ask for her if she wanted food when a soft knock came from the door.

“Katie? Vincent? I’m almost done with dinner. It’ll probably be another 10 minutes. Just wanted to let you know.” Carolines soft voice was made even softer when muffled by the wooden door before her footsteps were heard down the stairs.

Katie’s eyes lit up at her sister’s voice and she looked up to Vincent from her spot on his chest. He smiled and kissed her forehead before moving her off him and sitting up. She rolled over and let her feet touch the cold ground. In a comfortable silence they got dressed and met at the door.

Katie touched Vincent’s mask, “I almost forgot about the mask. I like being able to really see you.” The last bit came out quietly, sadness in her tone. He brushed his own hand across her cheek gently before taking her hand. They walked down the stairs together. Things felt right like this was how it was suppose to be. Maybe Mama was right. Maybe you just have to trust the path and have faith and things will line up. Maybe Dad was right too, and everyone did have a soulmate. Maybe Vincent was always meant to be in her life. Maybe they were made for each other, their souls the missing piece from each others lives.

They made it downstairs, Vincent sat down in the living room where Bo was sitting, sipping a beer. Katie immediately ran to Caroline hugging her tight each whispering an “I missed you” in each others ear.

Both went to raise their hands to start signing but froze in unison.

Bo’s head snapped up to them, “Baby, show her around the kitchen and have her help you. We’ll call this a practice round. Don’t mess up.”

Katie and Caroline gave each other a glance and went to the kitchen.

“Here you can carry the potatoes and green beans. I’ll get the chicken.” Caroline smiled at her and handed her the bowls of side dishes. “Their Mama didn’t really know what spices were, weird since they live in the Cajun capital of the world. So I had to play around with adding the spice, hopefully it taste okay.”

“If it taste as good as it smells. It’ll be amazing. Maybe soon I’ll get to help you.” Katie smiled and took her sisters hand. They pulled each other into a hug again. This was the longest time they had ever been apart.

Caroline started to laugh quietly and poked Katie in the neck, “Nice bruise, what you do get into a fight with a vacuum cleaner?” Katie’s hand flew to her neck but Caroline smiled at her sheepishly. “It’s okay, so did I.” She adjusted the collar of her shirt to show the teeth mark on her neck. She got closer to Katie and whispered in her ear, “I want to talk to you about all this but not in front of them. We will have to wait until they trust us.”

“Baby you don’t quit that whispering I’ll have you over my knees again.” Bo’s voice carried from the living room to the kitchen.

Caroline grimaced but moved away from Katie, “Yes, Bo, I’m sorry. Just girl talk, didn’t want to bother you.” It wasn’t a complete lie.

Bo just nodded from his spot on the recliner and turned his attention back to the TV. Tonight they were able to pick up a channel that played movies.

“The TV has a good signal tonight. It’s got a movie channel. In an hour they are gonna play Friday the 13th! Since you know it’s Friday the 13th! I wanna see if they’ll let us watch it together like we use to do with Dad. Les even got us popcorn after I told him it was a favorite snack of ours.” Caroline smiled and Katie nodded along happy to think of a movie night featuring one of their favorite movies.

They moved to the living room each going to their partner.

“Dinner’s ready.” Caroline announced before they made way to the dining table. Luckily this time each girl got her own seat.

For a while they ate and made small talk, well as much small talk as you could with people you saw every second of everyday. Eventually Caroline got the nerve to ask her request.

“Bo, love?” Her hand found its way to his thigh under the table and she made sure to bat her eyelashes. Bo put his fork down and turned to her.

“I have a feeling you’re about to ask for something. Pick your words carefully babygirl.”

Caroline nodded before speaking, “Um, so you remember the tv said in an hour they’re gonna play Friday the 13th?” Bo nodded and she continued, “Well, that’s actually one of mine and Katie’s favorite movies. So I was thinking, since tomorrow is Saturday and you don’t have to work, maybe we could watch it together. The four of us, like a family movie night. We even have popcorn. Lester got some last time he got supplies. If that’s okay with you and Vincent.”

Her eyes flickered to Katie for a moment before going back to Bo who looked to his brother.

Vincent turned his face to Katie who was giving him a pleading look, “Please, it’ll be fun.” She took his hands and squeezed it gently, the still pleading look in her eye.

Vincent thought for a moment, his sweet little angel loved a gory, bloody movie? No no she should be watching a romance, Breakfast at Tiffany’s or Gone with the Wind. But the way she was looking at him with big eyes and her bright smile, he couldn’t deny her. Vincent made eye contact with Bo and nodded.

“Okay fine. You get nightmares though I ain’t doing this shit again.” Bo grumbled and started eating again. Katie and Caroline looked to each other and smiled wide.

Maybe tonight would be the start of a new beginning for them.

—

“Comin’ with me to the station day, baby. Get dressed.” Bo ordered, giving her a dress for the day. They had spent most of the morning continuing what was started last night. They didn’t roll out of bed until 9:00. Four hours later than Bo normally woke up.

Caroline hummed and slipped into her dress, “Okay, is there a reason?”

Her innocent eyes made him smirk he almost didn’t want to tell her but in another twisted day he wanted to see her face glow red with a blush.

“Because baby I ain’t got earplugs for you and I don’t see your sister and Vinny being done anytime soon.” She cocked her head confused and he couldn’t help but kiss her confused pout. “You probably couldn’t hear her screaming his name all night because you were too loud screaming mine.” He whispered it in her ear and pulled back to see her face red as a tomato. He chuckled a bit and told her to finish getting ready and to meet him at the truck.

They made it to the shop and Bo set her to work cleaning the lobby while he went into the garage to work on one of the cars. He just finished changing the oil in the tow truck and went to move out from under it. He misjudged the distance and sat up too soon hitting his forehead.

Caroline heard a bang and Bo screaming every swear under the sun. She stopped wiping down the counter and went to him. She gasps when she saw the cut on his head dripping down his face.

“Med kits under the register.” He gritted out pressing a rag to his head. She followed the directions and came back med kit in hand. He tried to grab it from her but she pulled it back.

“Let me do it. Mama made me and Katie do all sorts of first aid lessons, she was a nurse. Gave us two options in life- become good housewives to rich men or nurses. She wasn’t too happy when Katie and I made our career choices.” She took out the needed supplies and kneeled, starting to tend to his wound.

“Well I ain’t the riches man in the world but I think you make the best little housewife. You’re perfect to me baby.” He winced when she touched the cut with cleaning fluid.

“Must of hit your head pretty hard. I’m not perfect. Mama was perfect.” Her eyes dimmed thinking back to her Mama. Besides Katie, Mama was her best friend.

“Wanna talk about it? Vinny told me a little of what Catherine told him.” Bo put his hand on her thigh. He could tell she was about to make a comment on the name, “Vinny likes to call her Catherine, says it fits her better.”

“Oh, yeah I guess but she’ll always be Katie to me.” She kept working at his wound cleaning and apply pressure. “Mama was my best friend, besides Katie. She was a nurse and part of all the societies. Her mama, my granny, was all sort of high society true southern belle. I mean I guess that happens when you grow up in Savannah, Georgia. Everyone was surprised when she married Dad. He was poor and didn’t have a degree. But he was the nicest man in all of Georgia. And he loved Mama and he loved us. He was a tattoo artist like Katie. That’s how she learned. Him and Mama had gone to Alaska for a train tour. Katie and I were suppose to go but we got chickenpox. Can you believe getting chickenpox at 19? Everyone at school got it when we were in 3 grade. Except me and Katie. We got it from a little girl at church. Mama wanted to stay but we convinced her to go and enjoy it. The mother of the girl from church felt so bad she and her daughter stayed with us while we got better. The day Mama and Dad were suppose to come home came and went and they never showed. Two days later we get a knock on the door. It was the sheriff, Carl, him and dad were good buddies. He had to break the news to us. Turns out the two people working the train had gotten drunk and caused a crash on purpose. It was a suicide pack. They found the letters. So we got a big settlement. Only about half the people died, of course Mama and Dad had to be part of that. That’s why Katie and I were leaving, we were gonna drive to California and start a new life. But I guess a new life in Louisiana is better.” The tears had started half way through but she was smiling at the end trying to make sure self better. She finished tending his wound and kissed the bandage, “There all better.”

“Thank you baby. I’m sorry all that happened to ya. But I know it’s selfish, but I’m glad it lead you to me. Can’t imagine life without you now.” He stood and helped her up, “Let’s go home and get cleaned up. Family dinner is tonight.”

Dinner went by quickly once the boys agreed to family movie night. She tried to talk Bo into letting her have a beer but that was shut down quickly, “No ma’am. You ain’t old enough besides stuff will kill ya, don’t need it.” Hypocrite and he knew it but she didn’t push. In an act of compromise he did give her a bottle of Coke.

The popcorn was made and they made themselves fit on the couch. It helped that the girls were just sitting in the boys laps.

Katie smiled and held Vincent’s hand on her lap, “I’d say you can protect me from the scary bits but honestly its not that scary. I think we laugh at it more than we scream nowadays.” Caroline nodded in agreement but Bo laughed.

“I’ll believe that when I see it sugar.”

The movie ended and true to her word, Katie and Caroline had laughed through half the movie. It was clear they had seen it a number of times seeing as they had a habit of started to laugh before the kill even happened. After the credits the channel announced that on Sunday they would be playing Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

“THAT’S OUR FAVORITE FAVORITE MOVIE EVER!” Both girls shouted.

“Love, you gotta try to get this channel Sunday so we can watch it! Please.” Caroline twisted so she was straddling Bo looking deep in his eyes. In the corner of his eye he could see Katie was nodded with her.

“I’ll do my best baby. No promises. Now it’s late, time for pretty little girls to go to bed.”

—

“You’re the best Lester!” Katie whispered in glee as she, Caroline, and Lester quietly brought everything into the house. It was 4:30am on September 18, Bo and Vincent’s 34 birthday. The girls conspired with Lester to get decorations and the supplies needed to make not only the pot roast but also a cake. Katie had been able to get Vincent to admit they both had a sweet tooth for vanilla cake with chocolate frosting.

“Ain’t nothing sis. It’s nice to actually celebrate for once. Can’t remember last time we did this.” Lester smiled and placed more items on the table. “Dinner’s at 6 right? I��ll make sure to be back by then.”

Caroline nodded and hugged him before he left, “Don’t forget to bring Jonesy.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it!”

The girls got to work making a big breakfast, pancakes, omelets, bacon, sausage, toast, fresh coffee, orange juice, and even homemade butter. Once everything was ready they tied balloons to anything they could wrap a string around and hung up the “Happy Birthday” banner.

By 5:30am footsteps were heard upstairs along with muffled voices. The girls told them to sleep in for their birthday. They reasoned 30 minutes could count.

“They always wake up this early, didn’t you know that?” Bo’s voice carried down the stairs. Vincent must have asked where Katie was after not finding her in bed.

The girls practically sprinted to the bottom of the stairs, bouncing on their feet in excitement. They had actually woke up 30 minutes early today to have time to dress up for the occasion. Caroline had curled her hair leaving it down, while Katie also curled hers but braid her bangs out of her face. Maybe after this they can convince the boys to let them go to town with Lester and get their hair done. They each put on the dresses they wore the first day with the boys. Caroline in pink and Katie in purple, each had flawless makeup to match.

Finally two pairs legs made their way down the staircase.

“Well damn babygirl. It’s like I’m still in a dream.” Bo let out a whistle and twirled Caroline around. Vincent doing the same for Katie.

“Happy birthday!” Both girls shouted once they were back to standing still. They took the boys hands brought them to the kitchen.

“Lester helped by the way. He’ll be back for dinner.” Katie made sure to mention their brother’s part in the surprise.

Vincent pulled Katie tight against his chest his fingers spelling out Thank you on her back. She smiled at home wrapping her arms around his neck.

“Told you, we love birthdays. Especially my favorite husband.”

“Foods gonna get cold and we didn’t spend all morning making this for it to be cold.” Caroline pulled the two apart and made everyone sit down. Bo and the girls ate while Vincent made his plate of food to take to the studio.

After breakfast the boys went off to ‘work’ leaving the girls to their chores. They had sent them off with packed lunch so the girls would have time to make their special dinner. They had everything prepped and just had to be put in the oven closer to dinner time.

Katie ended up staying with Vincent the rest of the day, he wanted to take her out to one of his favorite spots in Ambrose. Hidden in the woods was a small creek that had a bridge over it and it had a beautiful view. In the late summer into early fall the flowers grew tenfold and he knew Katie would love it.

She quickly told Caroline she would make it up to her the next day by doing the chores while Caroline spent time with Bo. Leaving Caroline alone in the house for the rest of the day until Bo came home.

It was getting late, dinner was in the oven, the pot roast the girls had promised to make that thankfully Katie had helped prep before she left, and Caroline was in the hall cleaning the baseboards along the floor. At this point they had pretty much cleaned the whole house and now were just getting the final details squared away. Soon the deep cleaning could end and they would have a perfect house.

Once finished she took off the cleaning gloves to put them over the water bucket when she heard the ping of metal hitting the hardwood. She looked down and saw her ring rolling under a closed door. She tried to grab it but it slipped under before she could get it. She peaked under the door trying to wiggle her fingers under to grab it but it was just out of reach. She stood going to open the door without thinking just wanting her ring back. Bo’s rule about leaving closed doors closed falling to the back of her mind, even more so the threat of what would happen if she opened the door labeled “Dr. Victor Sinclair”. She opened the door and got her ring slipping it back on her finger when hands grabbed her waist and shoved her back against the wall a hand on her neck.

—

Bo was having a shitty birthday. Besides the surprise his babygirl did for him at breakfast everything was shit. He was close to getting one of the cars in the garage fixed but the part he had Lester order and picked up for him was the wrong size. It wasn’t Lester’s fault the company had sent the wrong one but he was still pissed. He went to town to work on some of the machinery for the museum and found an animal had chewed through the wires.

He was angry and finding problems everywhere. He had enough and decided to call it a day. He was gonna go home early and spend time some time with his wife. Maybe he could get her into the bedroom for some midday birthday sex.

He made his way home and started looking for Caroline. He walked up the stairs and immediately saw red. The biggest rule he had given her and she went and broke it. Poking her head into places they didn’t belong. He stormed up behind her and grabbed her by the waist throwing her back against the wall and slamming the door shut next to her.

“What did I tell you little girl? What was the fucking rule?” His face was red and spit flew from his mouth into her face. “Tell me the fucking rules bitch.”

Tears welled up in her eyes and she started sobbing, “Don’t… don’t go into this room. I’m sorry I didn’t… my ring slipped under the door. I didn’t see anything I promise I opened the door and got my ring. I’m sorry Bo I should have waited for you.”

“Fucking lies. You knew what you were doing. You are in so much fucking trouble now. Breaking rules and now lying.” He threw her over his shoulder and out of the house. She wanted to scream but fear kept her quiet. She hadn’t seen him this mad since the day he punished for her talking to Katie. But this was worse, she worried this might be it for her, he was actually going to kill her this time.

Time seemed to go by in a blur, one minute he had her over his shoulder the next he had her strapped back to the chair under his garage.

“Bo please I’m sorry. Please let me explain. I promise I’m not lying.” She shrieked when he slapped her across the face. He gripped her chin in his hand and she saw a bottle of what she assumed was superglue in his other. He ripped the cap off with his teeth and held it to her lips.

“This outta shut you up for a while.” He spread it on her lips like it was her lipgloss he loved to see her wear. He pressed her lips close and leaned in close almost like he was going to kiss her but instead he blew on her lips making the glue dry faster.

Tears continued to fall and she shook in the chair. He ripped off his belt and folded it in half before slapping it against her legs.

“Couldn’t even act right on my birthday could you baby? Just had to cause trouble. You’re gonna get it now little girl. Don’t forget who owns you. Don’t forget who holds not only your life in his hands but your sister’s too. Sure Vinny would be mad for a little bit but he could move on. Just like I will.” He got back in her face and she could feel the heated anger rolling off of him.

“Let me tell you what’s gonna happen now little slut. I’m gonna throw you on that mattress, you’re gonna give me that sweet ass to fuck, then when I’m done with you I’m gonna take this knife and cut right through that pretty little neck of yours. Body should stay warm for a while and I can keep having my fun.” He ripped the tape off her wrists bits of skin coming off with it and pin pricks of blood bubbled over her flesh.

He did as he said and threw her against the mattress making her knees hit hard. She winced in pain and felt him grab her waist pulling her so ass was raised to him. She felt the blade of his knife cut off her panties, the baby pink ones that were his favorite and she had worn today just for his birthday. She heard him spit and felt his hot salvia drip down on her back. He smeared it over her puckered hole and she screamed as much as she could with the glue on her lips. His thumb pressed inside and she felt like she was on fire. That was all the prep he gave her within seconds his cock was forcing its way into her. Stretching her ways she didn’t know her body could stretch.

She continued sobbing as he used her. Her body was a blaze, between the forceful fucking and the slaps he was delivering to her cheeks. If by some mercy she survived this she knew she’d never be the same. She tried to put herself in a better headspace. She thought about the good times with Bo. When he showed her what lovemaking was rather than just fucking. Sure they did that too but he always made sure to love her when she needed it. He had started to be able to read her body better than she could. He seemed to know when she wanted it hard and fast or when she needed it soft and slow. When they were done and he was hold her in the shower telling her how good she was for him and how she made him the happiest man on earth. Or the best times when he talked about the kids they would have, he wanted a boy and a girl. He didn’t have a name for a boy but he said he always wanted a little daddy’s girl named Chevrolet, Chevy, like his favorite cars. He talked about how she would look like Caroline. He kept saying his two perfect girls. That’s what he wanted, his perfect girls.

In a call back to the first time he had punished her, she passed out from the pain. As she felt herself slip away she wondered how Katie would react to her death. Would she run from Vincent or would he talk her into staying? Would he go with her somewhere? It almost hurt to think about.

But the last thought on her mind was the one that told her she really was messed in the head. No one in their right mind would have this thought as the man who had kidnapped them, forced marriage on them, and now was forcing himself on them in the most shameful way. But she couldn’t help but think it. She couldn’t stop herself from thinking that if she lived through this, that if the anger cleared from his mind, and he stopped hurting her, that she would forgive him. He would apologize and tell her he loved her. She would stay with him. She would be his good perfect little wife and give him his perfect little daughter. But that thought faded to black as his hand went to throat and the air was taken from her lungs. Because she had fallen in love with the demon named Beauregard Sinclair and not even the devil himself could separate them.

—

“Do you smell that?” Katie looked over to Vincent from her seat on the floor where she had been drafting a new sketch based on the creek had taken her to see. “It smells like something’s burn… oh my god dinner.” She jumped up and beelined for the stairs Vincent on her heels. They got to the kitchen and could only see a cloud of black smoke. Katie ran to the oven and shut it off while Vincent worked out open the doors and windows letting the smoke blow out of the house. Once it had cleared katie opened the oven and saw the roast was ruined.

“What the hell Caroline?” She yelled hoping to see her sister run into the room. “Caroline?” She called again but she got no call back. “Where is she? She promised to finish dinner.” She turned to see the clock on the wall, 5:45, Bo should be home by now too. She looked to Vincent who shrugged and pointed up the stairs. They made the trek up and Katie noticed the cleaning supplies on the floor. That was unlike Caroline. She always put her things away when she was done. Even before living her, Caroline hated having things clutter the floor. Fear started to creep in to Katie’s soul.

“What if something happened? This isn’t like her. Vincent…” He took her hand and squeezed it trying to calm her.

The door downstairs slammed open hitting the wall.

“Vincent get your freak ass down her and bring that slut with you.” Bo’s voice was full of venom. Katie started shaking and Vincent saw her shrink in on herself. He took her hand again and led her downstairs keep her behind him. Bo was fuming at the bottom of the stairs. Even Vincent had never seen him this angry. Vincent stopped on the bottom step Katie placed behind him.

“Fucking little bitch broke the damn rules. Got what she fucking deserved. I’m going to Lester’s you can figure out what to fucking do. I don’t care. Have both of them if you want.” Bo yelled grabbing his wallet and keys, storming out of the house again.

“Vincent…” Katie’s voice was barely a whisper tears springing to her eyes.

“The door opposite the work bench. She’s probably in there. I will go with him.” His voice was rough as usual and he sent her down the stairs while he ran after Bo hoping to talk to him.

Katie ran down the stairs and flung open the door Vincent told her about, she had wondered where it lead. Inside she saw the chair and in the corner her sister’s crumpled body.

“Caroline!” She ran over and breathed a sigh of relief when she felt a pulse.

“Katie?” It was barely a whisper, her eyes fluttering open. Her lips bloodyfrom ripping the glue. “Katie we have to get out of here. I have to go.”

Katie could see in Caroline’s eyes she was at war with herself. Similar to how Katie was feeling. She didn’t want to leave Vincent but she had to protect Caroline.

“Can you walk?” She asked helping Caroline stand up. She took a few stumbling steps before getting her bearings. “We’re gonna have to walk through the woods to find that main road again. Come on, I got you.”

Silent tears fell down Katie’s face at the thought of leaving Vincent, how hurt he would be when he saw her gone. But she had to do this for Caroline.

They were able to get out and start trekking through the woods. They had no idea what way they were walking or how long eventually they both got tired and had to lay down. The sun had set so it had to have been at least 8 at night and they could hear thunder coming in. They huddled together trying to get some warmth and hoped that the wolves they could hear wouldn’t be hungry tonight. As they drifted to sleep shivering in the cold rain Caroline told Katie what happened leaving out the part where she still loved him.

—

“Come on wake up. Please please wake up.” Lester had never been so scared in his life while he shook Katie willing her to wake up.

When Bo showed up to his trailer that evening bottle of bourbon already half gone, guzzling down the other off walking through the door. Moments later Vincent showed up as well. Bo started mouthing off about Caroline calling her every name under the sun. Lester just stood there as Vincent grabbed Bo by the shoulder and punched in square in the face. Bo staggered but then fell onto the couch, knocked out. Vincent tried to explain to the best he could what happened.

They let Bo sleep off his anger while they went to look for the girls. They went to Bo’s basement and found no one there. They looked all over town but the girls were gone. By the time they made it back to Lester’s on the edge of Ambrose, Bo had woken up. He seemed calmer and a bit hungover, the pain from Vincent’s punch not helping. He was cursing himself for what he did before explaining what he did.

“Mama was right. I’m a monster ain’t no one that can love a fuck up like me. Fucking hell. I… I just saw red. I was having a shitty day and then her standing there, the one place I told her not to go. But I was wrong. I messed up and now I lost her.”

September 18, 2004 was the first time Lester Sinclair had ever seen one of his big brothers cry.

The brothers stayed together that night at Lester’s place. When morning came Vincent and Lester went looking for the girls again. Bo had been ordered home with instructions to not fuck anything up. He did as told, he went home and he tried his best to clean the kitchen. The dinner the girls had made still sat burned in the oven. Mama’s Pot Roast, just like they had every birthday. Caroline had been so excited to make it for him. She had been so excited for his birthday. To celebrate him. Someone had been excited to celebrate him and spend time with him and he ruined it. Once the kitchen had been cleaned spotless he sat on the couch and waited for a sign of life. He knew she would never forgive him but he still wanted to apologize, get on his knees and beg for her forgiveness. He would do anything to have his girl back. Hell he’d move out of Ambrose if that made her happy, take her to California that she had blamed. Beauregard Sinclair started crying for the third time in his life.

“Vincent! I found ‘em!” Lester yelled from where he had found the girls curled together under a fallen tree. They were soaked to the bone. It had started raining that night after the boys finally went to bed. They tried one more time to find the girls but the darkness of the woods plus the added rain made it impossible.

Vincent ran to where Lester was and took Katie from him. He brushed her hair out of her face and felt how cold her skin was, it felt like ice.

“Oh my god. What did Bo do to her?” Lester held Caroline up to his chest and brushed his finger over her lips. “Glued her mouth shut. Like he did the other girls.” Lester’s heart broke. Caroline had been a little ray of sunshine in Ambrose, he hadn’t seen Bo that happy in years. He looked down her body and noticed the bruises, maybe his brother really was a monster.

“Gotta get them warmed up.” Lester stood and picked up Caroline while Vincent took Katie. They carried the girls to Lester’s truck and drove them to his trailer. He ran a warm bath for them but not too hot. He remembered from his Boy Scout days that you don’t stick someone with hypothermia in hot water it’ll send them into shock. “Should, should we take their clothes off?” Lester didn’t want to embarrass them. Vincent shook his head and put Katie in the water making room for Lester to put Caroline. The tub wasn’t really big enough for both of them but they made it work.

They took cups and pour water down their hair and faces, while also wiping them down with rags to clean the mud off.

Finally after minutes of this routine Katie moved, “Vincent?” He took her hand and rubbed it as she started to cry. “Vincent, he hurt her. Hurt her real bad. I had to try to get her away. I’m sorry. I didn’t want to leave you but I had…” He put a finger to her lips and nodded telling her it was okay. He helped her out of the tub leaving Caroline in Lester’s care.

“She can have some clothes from my room.” Lester said as Vincent took her to get dry. They went to Lesters room and she found some sweatpants and flannels. She put some on and then took another set to Lester for Caroline. When they got back to the bathroom Caroline was starting to stir awake.

“Caroline, Caroline its Katie. You’re safe. Vincent and Lester found us.”

“Bo, where’s Bo?” Caroline’s voice was slurred as she tried to open her eyes.

“He ain’t here sugarplum, you’re okay.” Lester tried to take her hand but she slapped him away.

“Bo. I want Bo. I need Bo.” She started shaking and crying. “Need Bo. Gotta find Bo.”

Katie looked to Vincent and down to Caroline, “Can y’all give us a minute? Let me talk to her alone. Try and calm her down.”

“Yeah yeah, I’ll make some coffee. Try to help warm ya up more.” Lester nodded and Vincent followed him out of the room.

“Caroline, it’s Katie. Calm down okay I’m here. We are safe.”

“No, only safe with Bo. I want Bo.”

“But he…”

“I know what he did. And I know I shouldn’t want him but I do. I want him. He’ll apologize and we can talk. I want him Catherine. I love him.”

Caroline took her hand and squeezed three times. “Please let’s go home. I just want forget this happened.”

Katie closed her eyes and sent a prayer asking for what to do. But if this is what Caroline wanted this is what she would get. “Okay. Les gave us some of his clothes. Put these on I’ll tell them to take us home.”

Caroline nodded and stood grabbing the clothes.

Katie stepped out and told Vincent and Lester what Caroline side. They were against it at first but she convinced them to take them home, “Just let her do this. Something happens again well we will cross that bridge when we get there. Please Vincent, lets go home.”

[ashcal99]

Certain Things : Leah Clearwater III

Chapter Three

"Something about you, It's like an addiction, Hit me with your best shot honey, I've got no reason to doubt you, 'Cause certain things hurt, And you're my only virtue"

Summary: Conner Swan moves to Forks Washington in hopes to help his sister Bella through her breakup with Edward. In hopes to find happiness again. He finds much more.

Warnings: Eventual smut (18+ only), mentions of death, depression, loss, antidepressants, general angst, slow burn, brief mentions of suicidal thoughts

Words: 5.1k

A/N: Comment if I missed any warning or anything plz thnx.

Soundtrack

Previous Chapter

Series Masterlist

——————

January 8th, 2006

Just under two weeks had pasted when Conner finally found the time to head out the rez and see Jacob. He had been busy the past week or so, working his new job at the diner. He had graciously excepted the waiting position offered to him, knowing that if everything went well, he may be able to move into the kitchen eventually. Friday he had gotten his first paycheck, it wasn’t much, but he was now able to pay the teen for his labor.

The small house slowly came into view as his truck rolled down the gravel road, coming to a stop next to the rusty barn that set a few hundred feet away from the house. Immediately, he spotted his sister’s old clunker of a truck, shocked to see she was here as well. He knew she had been getting out of the house more as of late, trying to appease Charlie. She had even gone out to see a movie with one of her friends just a couple days prior. Between Conner working and Bella’s winter break ending, he hadn’t seen much of the teen, but he knew for a fact that she had gone over to Jake’s the previous weekend to get her oil changed. To say he was surprised to see her here was a bit of an understatement, since he wasn’t aware that two teens really spent any time together besides the Quileutes’ visits into town to watch whatever game was on with Charlie.

Opening the truck, he plopped down to the ground, feet crunching the gravel as he stepped into the shed. “Hi…” He drifted off, looking at the two apprehensively. Looking down he saw two rusty motorbikes, Jacob working on one with a wrench while Bella sat by, keeping him engrossed in a conversation. Sending his sister a weary glance, he spoke. “What’s going on?” He asked hesitantly.

Bella sucked in a breath. “Hey, Conner.” She started, awkwardly fiddling with her fingers. “I just saved these two from the junkyard so Jake could fix them." She finished, throwing him a hesitant smile. She hoped the older sibling would handle this information well, considering the reproductions if he ever let it slip to Charlie what she was doing out here.

Conner stared at the girl incredulously. “You’re lucky I’m nice and won’t tell dad. He’d lose his shit if he found out about this.” He chastised the girl. “You know how he feels about these death traps.”

She nodded fervently. “I know, and I promise I’ll be carful. I’ll owe you big time if you keep it to yourself.” She bargained. “Besides, I’ve got a great teacher.” She said nudging the teen beside her, causing a bright blush to creep up his neck. Jacob looked down bashfully, muttering something unintelligible under his breath, continuing to tighten whatever bolt he was working on. Conner raised an eyebrow. Bella was flirting, and it kinda weirded him out. He wasn’t sure if she noticed she was doing it, but Conner quickly chose to ignore it. 

The man reached into his jacket pocket, pulling a few folded bills, and reached towards Jacob, offering him the money. “Let me know if you need more for parts or anything. Charlie’s not very good with cars, so I’m honestly not too sure how much I should be paying you.” He said, dropping the money into the teens tanned palm. 

“This should cover it. I think I know what part needs to be replaced, so I already pulled it from the junk yard, I’ll just need to see what else we might need before I head to the auto store.” He said, pocketing the money. “Let me just finish this one thing up, and I’ll take a look at it.” He finished, sending a grin to the man.

Conner stood, awkwardly teetering on his heels for a moment. ”Well, hope I'm not intruding, but I'm kinda stuck here until Jake fixes my truck, so..." he trailed off.

“Of course not Con. I feel like I’ve barely seen you lately, with you busy with work now.” Bella reassured, Conner sending her a smile in return. 

"Yo, Jake, you in there?!" An unknown voice called, both siblings starting to gather their things to leave. They didn't want to intrude on Jacob's friendships. They would just take a walk or something to pass the time.

Jake put his hand up, stopping the two siblings ”No, it's okay." He paused shooting the two a smile. "It's-It's just my boys." He informed as two unfamiliar faces joined them in the shed.

"Hey Jake." The boy with long dark hair greeted.

"Hey guys-," Jake started, turning to the two teen boys. "This is Bella and her brother Conner." He gestured towards the siblings. "Bella, Conner, that's Quill and Embry." He introduced the new faces. Conner gave a small wave to the two.

Quill sucked in a breath, "So the bike building story's true." He said expectantly, giving Jake a small smirk.

Bella smiled. ”Oh-yeah-I taught him everything he knows." She joked back, earning a snicker from her brother.

The smirk widened across Quill's face. "What about the part where you're his girlfriend?” He asked teasingly.

Awkwardness flowed through the air as Bella stuttered out. "Uh-um, we're friends, you know?" Conner to smirked to himself. He had always found it hilarious seeing his sister so easily flustered. 

Embry let out a a bark of laughter, "Hmm, burn!” He shot at Jake. 

Jake stepped up, quickly trying to ease the tension from the room, shooting back, "Actually, remember, I said she's a girl and a friend." He said desperately. 

Conner stood back and watched the interaction, an amused look adorning his features. The short haired teen's smirk widened as he saw his best friend trying to cover his ass. “Embry, do you remember him making that distinction?” He questioned.

"Nope!" The other quickly shot back, smirking as well.

Figuring he had endured enough embarrassment, Conner decided to stick up for Jake. "So, you guys have girlfriends. That's awesome." He stated enthusiastically, earning snickers from his sister and Jake. Jake's friends looked down in embarrassment, heat creeping onto their cheeks.

"Yeah, right," Jake paused letting out a deep laugh. "Quill's actually taking his cousin to prom." He stated, further embarrassing the boy.

"Yeah, that's still a riot." Giving a fake smile, Quill narrowed his eyes. "You want funny, Black? I'll give you funny." As the words left his mouth, he jumped forwards, taking Jake in a headlock.

Their playful fight earned them laughs from the rest in the room. "I've got five bucks on Quill." Embry said, gesturing towards the two boys.

Bella scoffed. ”You're on." She answered confidently.

“Well, I'm going to go see what Billy's up to-" Conner paused, looking over to the 'fight'. "Don't let them kill each other." He laughed, waving a goodbye to his sister before leaving the shed.

On his way over to the small house, Conner couldn't help but get caught up in the scenery. La push, though being a small dreary town, had always been absolutely beautiful to the man. He had always loved nature and going on hikes, and now that he was in the perfect environment for it, and he knew he would have to take advantage of the opportunity soon. 

Shaking the thoughts away, he continued his trek towards the front door. He knocked lightly on the cracked wooden panel before entering, knowing from previous experience that they left the door unlocked for Billy’s connivence. As he walked into the living room, the man came into view. "Hey Billy! How've you been?" He greeted the man.

Billy looked away from the television towards Conner. ”I've been good, and you?” He asked politely, turning he head to send him a smile. 

Conner smiled in return. “Better.” He assured. Walking to the loveseat sitting against the wall, he sat, sinking his weight into the warn cushion. “I got a waiting job at the diner in town.” He said.

Billy hummed in acknowledgment. “Yeah, Charlie told me last Sunday. He said you’re liking it so far?” He asked.

Conner nodded in agreement. “I honestly would stay doing that instead of finding a job in my field if the money justified it. I enjoy the human interaction.” He admitted. “Get’s my mind off of things.”

Billy sighed. “I know how you feel, son. It’s hard to distract yourself from the pain of loss. It’s pretty damn persistent, unfortunately.” He said solemnly. 

Conner frowned. Sometimes he forgot about the accident that had left Billy unable to walk. He knew Billy had really struggled with the loss of his wife in the beginning, and he wondered if it had ever gotten easier for the man, or if he had just gotten good at hiding it. He reached his hand to the chain around his neck, seeking comfort in the coolness of the rings in his palm. 

He looked towards the man, taking in the view of the wrinkles, thinking he that he looked much older than he was. He supposed pain did that to you. Behind his eyes, he saw that he was tired. Just tired from the consistent reminders of his loss, and he wondered if he himself looked similar. Conner thought he had learned to hide his pain fairly well over the past year, but maybe not. He didn’t want to imagine was his mind would be like without his antidepressants as it was already overwhelming enough. He sighed, shaking the thoughts from his head. Turning his attention to the football game playing on the television, he relaxed into the overly plush couch, letting his mind numb at the sound of cheers and whistles.

Halftime had just started as Jacob stepped back into view. "Sorry to interrupt. I just finished on your truck, Conner. You should have no problem keeping warm now.” He assured the man.

Conner smiled coming to a stand as he clapped a hand on the teen's back. "Thanks Jake.” He said. Bending over, a grabbed his jacket from the sofa, stretching the thick material over his biceps. Muttering a small “Goodbye.” To Billy, he made his was back outside.

He walked back to shed, pulling Bella into a light embrace, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “I’ll see you at home. Dinner will be ready at six okay? I’m making lasagna and you better be there.” He said jokingly stern.

Bella gave a small laugh. “Okay. I’ll be there. Promise.” She said.

Conner turned to the two teen boys that remained. “It was nice meeting you two.” He said giving the them a polite smile. 

——————

Back at the Swan residence, Conner finished up preparing their dinner, putting the glass baking dish in the oven. Stepping back, he started to clean the mess he had made. He was almost done drying the now clean dishes, when the doorbell rang. His forehead creased, wondering who it could be, knowing it wasn’t Billy or Jake, considering he had just seen the two. 

Rushing to see who it was, he tossed the damp dish towel over his shoulder, unlocking the door, and swinging it open. There stood a petite girl, long brunette waves, cascading over her shoulder’s. She looked just about as confused to see him as him seeing her. 

Conner raised an eyebrow. “Can I help you?” He asked curiously. 

The girl blinked, looking the man up and down quickly. “Um- yeah. I’m looking for Bella Swan? I don’t have the wrong house do I?” She asked, suddenly not too sure. 

Conner clicked his tongue in understanding. So she was Bella’s friend. “You must be Jessica? I’m Conner, Bella’s older brother.” He confirmed. 

The teen gawked at the man, looking him up and down incredulously. “Bella didn’t tell me she had a brother.” She started, sounding a pit peeved by the fact. “She left her coat in my car on Friday when we went to the movies.” She continued holding the heap of fabric out for the man to take. He reached forwards, taking the coat from the girl, his fingers brushing hers lightly. She blushed taking a wave of hair in her figures, twisting it flirtatiously. 

Something about the way she was eyeing him made Conner wildly uncomfortable. She was practically undressing him with her eyes, and he held back the urge to recoil and slam the door in her face. He figured he should try being polite, in hopes to not scare off one of Bella’s only friends in the town. 

He coughed awkwardly, attempting to shake the unease in his chest. “Well…” He started , scratching the back of his neck. Jessica’s eyes flashed to his flexing bicep, practically drooling at the sight. “I’ll make sure to give it to her when she gets home.” He continued, gripping the handle of the door tighter. 

The buzzer for the oven, went off in the next room. Literally saved by the bell, he sighed in relief. “It was nice to meet you Jessica, but I have to get dinner out of the oven, so if you’d please excuse me.” He said, not giving the teen a chance to reply, before shutting and locking the door in her face. 

On the other side of the door, Jessica huffed. She was annoyed at Bella for withholding such important information from her. There weren’t very many attractive guys in town, especially as hot as Conner. She turned, deciding in that moment that she would start putting more effort into seeing Bella outside of school. After Friday night’s stunt, she was sure that was the last time she would go out with the girl, but now she had something to gain. Even if she had to deal with her running off and taking rides with creepy men.

——————

January 16th, 2006

Bella’s mood had improved in the week that followed. It seemed as if spending more time with Jake had started to heal the gaping hole in her heart. Unfortunately, the nightmares seemed to be relentless, as the consistently haunted the teen almost on a nightly basis. 

Conner woke one particularly horrible night, to the sounds of his sister’s tormented screams reverberating across the house. He sat, rubbing the sleep form his eyes, stumbling to the teen’s room.

Bella’s screams pierced his ears as he entered the room. Reaching to quickly switch the bedside lamp on, he hurried to her side, attempting to shake her awake. Her eyes shot open, darting around the room panicked. "You're alright, Bells. You're okay." He reassured, lightly shushing her. She let out a sigh of relief, laying eyes on her brother. The nightmares were over. She was okay now. As okay as she was going to be anyway. Cold tears streamed down her face, trying to brush the wetness from her cheeks. Bella sat up, grabbing a glass of water from the side table, taking a slow sip. 

Conner clutched the dream catcher hanging from the bed frame as she continued to sip at the water. "I thought this thing was starting to work," he paused, resting  it back against the headboard. "...but I guess not." 

Letting out a sigh, he continued. "I do know what it's like, you know. When Mia died. I had a hell of a time. Imagined doing all kinds of stupid shit, just to stop the pain.” He confessed, gripping the two rings hanging from his neck. 

Bella looked away feeling a pang of guilt hearing his words. Conner let out a heavy sigh as he questioned. "Can I ask you something?" Earning a nod from the teen, he continued. "Hanging out with Jake...that seems to take your mind off of things for a bit, doesn't it?” He asked, tilting his head slightly.

Bella nodded lightly in response, waiting for him to continue. "You know, sometimes... you gotta learn to live what's good for you. You know what I mean? I think Jake's good for you Bells." He smiled sadly at the teen. Bella looked into the eyes of her brother, seeing how tired he was. Not just physically, but mentally and emotionally too. She saw the waves of sorrow behind his big blue eyes. She hoped that he could find someone like Jake was to her. Someone to patch his holes and help him heal. Only time would tell, but until then, she would be there for him. She wouldn’t let the past repeat itself. Not again. 

Clearing his throat quickly, he stood up and moved towards the door. "Okay... Go back to bed, I love you." Hearing a mumble of 'I love you too' from the girl, he made his way back to his bed, plopping down on the springy mattress. He let his head rest on the plush pillow, letting sleep engulf him once again.

——————

February 3rd, 2006

The month of January passed by in blur, Conner having picked up as many shifts as possible at the dinner. He had been working so many hours the past few weeks, he had saved enough money finally for a decent bed frame and even  some new tires for his tuck. It had been pretty icy on the roads as of late, and Conner knew it was just a matter of time before the he started having issues with keeping control of the steering wheel. 

It was a Friday night, and normally, he would be excited for the weekend, getting to spend time with his dad watching football games, but the Super Bowl was scheduled for that Sunday, so it meant no Friday night football. The Seahawks were set to play against the Steelers, so he had that to look forward to, but for now, he dreaded this day. Bella had asked him the week prior to join her and some friends to see a movie, and he had reluctantly agreed. 

He never was a huge fan of going to the movie theater, much preferring to watch them in the comfort of his own home. However, seeing his utter lack of a social life, he had agreed to the join the group. In fact he had been looking forward to spending time with people closer to his age, even if they were a few years younger. Only later did he find out Jessica Stanley would be one of the teens tagging along. He had managed to avoid the girl since their awkward meeting the month previous, but now he had roped himself into spending a whole night with her. Backing out wasn't really an option considering that he had no valid excuse, so it was settled. It was going to be a very long night.

To add to the awkwardness, the only other people joining would be Jake and Mike. He wasn’t sure if his sister was blind or if she just chose to ignore the inevitable tension between the two, but it was painfully obvious that both boys were completely infatuated with the girl. 

He had met Mike just a couple days prior when Bella had forgotten her lunch at home. He dropped off some food from the diner on his break, and had seen the love struck gaze of the boy. Bella being completely unfazed by the attention, it was clear to him that this was no new occurrence. 

Bella let out an exasperated sigh as her brother pulled the truck into the small packed parking lot. Judging by the look on her face, she seemed to be dreading the night almost as much as he had been. This made him wonder why she had made the plans in the first place, figuring she most likely did it to appease Charlie. “You know, if you didn’t want to go, you could’ve just stayed home.” He muttered. 

Glancing to the front doors of the theater, he spotted Jessica. Sucking in a sudden breath, he continued. “On second though, let’s go back now before they see us.” He spoke, Jake spotting the truck, sending the siblings a wave.

 Bella saw this, sighing, she said. “Too late for that.”

Walking towards the ticketing booth he leaned his head down to her ear. “I didn't know Jessica would be joining us when I first agreed to go." He whispered to the teen, sending a playful glare in her direction. 

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. She kinda just invited herself when she found out that you were going." She spoke, a grimace grazing her features. "She tends to jump on any attractive guy she sees.” She continued.

A smirk formed on the man’s mouth, "Oh, so I'm attractive am I?" He teased, earning a light punch in the arm.

"Don't be too flattered, she's into Mike." It was her turn to smirk now.

The older let out a puff of air, rolling his eyes. "Oh god, this night is more complicated than I thought." He said. Teenagers were so complex and dramatic. What had he gotten himself in to? Bella looked over, slightly confused at her brother's last statement, silently asking him for an explanation. Conner ignored the look, not wanting to get open that can of worms at the moment. 

Suddenly, Jessica popped up beside him. "Hi Conner." She chirped, a grin plastered on her face. Gently cupping her hand on his opposite shoulder and pushing her body against the man's arm, definitely more than necessary, she gave him a very uncomfortable side hug. Uncomfortable for him at least.

Conner flinched away from the contact as his left eye began to twitch in annoyance. This was going to be the longest night of his life. He muttered a 'hello' back to the teen as he awkwardly tried to escape the embrace.

Looking up, he caught a glimpse of the tall boy with long brown hair, and saw this as good of an excuse as any to quickly flee from the overbearing teen. Jacob to the rescue. He thanked god for his height as his long strides rid him of the girl, her not being able to keep up with his fast pace. He clapped his hand on the Quileute's back, silently thanking him for momentarily freeing him.

Bella caught Jake’s attention as she walked up to the two, Mike and Jessica trailing behind her. "So I guess Jess and I will go get our tickets real quick, Mike already got his." Conner sent the girl a look of pure gratitude, knowing she was trying her best to keep Jessica away from him as long as possible. He looked over to the girl, the way she fluttered her eyelashes while trying her best to make her cleavage as prominent as humanly possible making Conner sick to his stomach.

Bella set off for the ticketing booth, Jessica reluctantly following. "So, 'Face Punch' huh? You like action movies?" Conner asked, quirking an eyebrow at Mike. He definitely did not look like someone that would spend his free time watching movies like this.

The teen blinked awkwardly. "Um, not really." He answered shortly, pursing his lips.

"I heard it sucks. Bad." The youngest stated, attempting to contribute to the conversation. So his suspicions were confirmed, they were both just here for Bella.

The blonde turned to Jake. ”Hey are you even old enough to see this movie?" He asked. "I mean, you know, without, like, adult supervision?" He added accusingly.

"Right, yeah." Jacob let out an irritated puff of air. "Well Bella's buying my ticket for me." He defended.

"She's buying it, okay” Mike said shortly.

An uncomfortable silence settled over the group that wasn’t broken until Bella returned. "Angela has the stomach flu and Eric's taking care of her, so I guess it's just us.” She said trailing off awkwardly.

Mumbles traveled around the group. Conner had a strong feeling Erica felt fine. He had to give the two props for coming up with a decent excuse as to not join them.

——————

Put your gun down!

Put your gun down or I'm gonna blow your freakin' head off!

So who ever had told Jacob that Face Punch was a horrible movie was absolutely correct. The movie pretty much consisted only of yelling and gore. Conner wondered if Bella had been strategic when picking the film.

Both of You! Put both of your guns down or I'm gonna blow both of your freakin' heads off!

Yeah, Conner could confidently say that he was not a fan.

Alright, let's do this!

Gunshots echoed around the theater, the sounds emitting out of the large speakers bolted to the walls. God, this movie was terrible. Mike seemed to agree as he stumbled out of his seat and up the isle, muttering. "Okay, I think I'm gonna throw up.”

Conner felt a bit sick himself, although it wasn’t exactly caused by the movie. Gore had never really bothered him at all. No. What was currently making his stomach turn was the teenage girl clutching to his arm with her head snuggled against him. 

While Conner didn't want to be a dick and tell her to fuck off, but the subtle hints he had been dropping all night didn't seem to be helping him in the slightest. The girl didn't even seem fazed by his attempts at all.

He thanked whatever higher power there was in the universe when he saw Bella and Jacob stand to follow after Mike. Finally he had an excuse to leave the tight grip of his sister's friend. Once again, Conner widened his strides in attempt to lose the teen for at least a moment of free air.

"What a marshmallow." Jacob snickered as Conner caught up to the two teens. "You should hold out for someone with a stronger stomach. Someone who laughs at the gore that makes weaker men vomit.”He continued.  

While Conner agreed, it was also painfully obvious to everyone but Bella that Jacob was trying to put himself ahead of Mike in whatever imaginary competition that they were in, his little sister being the ‘prize’.

Bella looked up at the boy.”Yeah, I'll keep my eyes open for that." Bella snickered lightly. "I feel bad. He probably has that flu that's..." She paused twisting around the corner near the stairs, her hand falling out of Jacob's grasp that Conner had just noticed. "...going around.” She finished.

"What? I can't hold your hand?” Jake asked offended.

Conner took the start of this conversation as a sign to stay out of it. He did not want to get involved in whatever boy drama Bella chose to be a part of. He sighed, as he went to lean against the wall between the bathroom and theater doors. Just as his back hit the wall, Jessica popped out of the theater door and hurried over to him.

"No of course you can." Bella reassured. Conner felt slightly bad about listening in on their conversation, but as much as he didn't want to be a part of the drama, he couldn't help but be curious of how this would pan out. "I just think it means something really different to you. So…" Bella continued.

Jake sucked in a breath. ”Okay, tell me something. You like me, right?" Conner's ears perked up. He definitely wanted to hear this answer. "And you think I'm sorta beautiful?" When the hell had Bella said that? If he wasn't listening before, he definitely was now, that was for sure. Consider his interest peaked.

"Jake, please, don't do this." She muttered. Jessica, hearing that bit of conversation between the two, slipped silently into the restroom, wispering something about freshening up to Conner.

"Why?" Jacob questioned. Conner was thinking the same thing. He knew Bella liked Jacob, he could tell. The two siblings were too close for the fact to go unnoticed by him.

Bella’s words came out in a rush. "Because you're about to ruin everything," She said, pausing for a moment."and... I need you." At this point Conner was just wondering to himself why she was making this so difficult for herself. She let out a sigh.

"Well I've got loads of time." Jake answered. "I'm not gonna give up.”

"I don't want you to." She shot back. "but, it's just because I don't want you to go anywhere." That was a load of bullshit and Conner knew it. No matter how hard she tried to convince everyone else and maybe even herself, his sister had real feelings for the younger teen and he knew it.

"It's- It's really selfish." She continued. "You know, I'm not like a car that you can fix up. I'm never gonna run right." As much as this saddened the older brother to hear her confess, he couldn't help wonder if that part was true. For her sake, he hoped not.

"It's because of him, right?" Conner could only assume that the 'him' Jacob was referring to was Edward. While Conner had only ever met the guy the one time, not really getting to speak to him at all, he knew that if he ever had the chance to see him again, he would kick his ass. He had broken his little sister's heart, and he wasn’t happy about it. "Look, I know what he did to you." Did he? "But, Bella, I would never do that. I would never hurt you. I promise. I won't let you down. You can count on me." He ended. 

Mike emerged from the doorframe of the restroom. "Well..." He started awkwardly. Conner pushed himself off of the wall, deciding it was time to join the group down the hall. 

"I need to go home." Jacob glared at the blonde expectantly. "I'm- I was feeling sick before the movie, okay?" Yeah sure.

Jacob's glare only intensified. "What is your problem?" Mike asked, throwing his hands in the air exasperatedly.

"Right now?" Jacob asked. "You are my problem." he stood up, answering his own question. "Felling sick?" He started again. "Maybe you should go to the hospital. Do you want me to put you in the hospital?” He threatened.

“Woah, Jake. The movie's over, calm down." Conner interjected, seeing Jake's anger.

"Jake, you're really hot." Bella said suddenly, causing both her brother and Mike to raise an eyebrow. What the fuck? "Like, you feel like you have a fever. Are you okay?" She added.

"I don't know what's happening." He said, confused momentarily. "I gotta go.” Then, before anyone knew it, he had stormed out into the parking lot.

It was uncomfortably silent for a moment, Jessica coming out of the bathroom looking, if possible, more confused than all of them, not hearing any part of the previous conversation.

"That dude is weird." Mike stated exasperatedly.

Next Chapter

[multifanlol]

hi! i loved ur calamity trio x reader u did with the reader escaping, could u possibly do a part 2 where the trio finds the reader again? ty!

Hii! And sure i was hoping someone would ask for a part two-

Calamity trio finding reader after them escaping

Tw: kidnapping, attempted suicide, all the yandere stuff you’d expect

I don’t know how to add a link to part one 😢 so your gonna have to swipe to find it but i only made it yesterday so it isn’t that far down-

You sighed puffing a bit of air out of your mouth

It sure is cold out here…..

It’s been 4 months at best ever since your escape and you’ve been doing kinda well

“Kinda” was because you were still in hiding you couldn’t see your family all thanks to three teenage girls? Well atleast that’s what everyone would think…..i mean those three teenage girls DID kidnap and had a lust for you-

I mean atleast you have your friends-

I mean sure they can’t always see you as there trying to protect themselves too since who knows what the girls are doing

Currently you were outside on a walk in the woods for some dumb reason and not in hiding, stupid? You know but it was only for a minute it was pretty close the hideout and besides you practically were gonna die at some point besides it was only meant to be a short walk i mean that walk did turn to you walking into a unfamiliar part of the woods you didn’t realise how lost in your thought you were till-

“I really hope we find them-oh no! Imagine if there dead?!”

“There not dead Marcy….it’s clear we underestimated them, they clearly think there stronger then they are….”

“Yeah but they think there stronger then they are imagine if there hurt-“

Those voices

You didn’t even realise how close they were you ran behind a tree holding a branch not like it’d be much help but you were desperate

“I need to get out of here…”

You thought in your head as you silently tried to find a better hiding spot while also trying to keep track on how close there voices got-

You winced at the crunched leaves you stepped but stopped in your place with your heart pounding so hard you thought it would of pounded out your chest

“Huh?”

“What?”

“I heard something it sounded like something or maybe…..someone?”

“It was probably just a stupid animal, we don’t have time for this”

“I think Marcy might be right i heard it too….”

Oh god

“Really? Let’s see, hey! Whoever you are you can come out we know your there!”

You tried your best not to make a sound which was barely working as your chest was pounding and your face was burning due to the high blood pressure and stress

Don’t make a sound don’t make a sound don’t make a sound-

“See? No reply it was probably just a squirrel or something”

Oh thank god that’s over with

You didn’t realise a familiar scent of perfume the girl was coming close to you

“Then why are you checking?”

“Just incase!”

“I mean maybe it could be an animal but-“

“S/O?!”

“What?”

“Wait what?!”

“Oh god oh god”

You tried to run but Sasha held a tight firm grip onto you

“Let go of me-“

You then felt another pair of arms hug you from behind

“Oh S/O we’re so happy we found you!! You really scared us this time”

“Guys, give her some space it’s clear those “friends” probably manipulated her or something”

“Yeah what you did was really reckless s/o, we’ve always warned you not to trust them i guess you really do need our watch on you”

You couldn’t speak you didn’t know what to do maybe if you were lucky some animal would come and distract them or something

“Aw she’s not speaking i missed hearing her voice…”

You would out found that line cute at least a couple years ago

“She’ll talk later it doesn’t matter since we found her, atleast those “friends” are dealt with-“

“W-What?! What did you do to them?”

“Aw your talking! Relax it was nothing now there took cared of for good!”

“It was nothing s/o, it’s not like we killed them all we know now is that they’ll never be bothering you or us again”

“No….no…”

“What were you doing in the woods anyway-“

“Ow-hey!”

You threw that branch you had on Sasha and made a run for it

You felt your heart pounding harder and harder to the point it literally was moving around

“S/o you can’t keep on running from us forever!”

You kept on running you didn’t know where you were going but you didn’t care you just wanted to get away from them

“S/O!!!!”

Big tw: attempted suicide if you don’t want to read that I’ll write down when it’s over

You ended up reaching a dead end looking behind you was the three girls getting closer to you you noticed a piece of glass on the floor and held it to your throat

“S/o, don’t-“

“Stay back!! I’m sick of this life, why did it have to happen to me?!”

“S/o you don’t know what your saying!!”

“Just put it down and we can talk!”

“No! No more of that! I’m sick of this I’m sick of everything and it hurts ugh-“

After stabbing yourself with it you felt a ton of pain but maybe a bit of relief that it was finally over

The suicide part ended

You heard some muffled talking

“You think she’s okay?”

“Of course she’s not okay, she nearly died”

“Huh…”

“Wait I think she’s awake! S/o, we’re so glad your okay we thought you could of actually died!”

“What is this-“

You start coughing and then noticed your neck having a piece of cloth over it

“You shouldn’t talk so much your throat is still healing”

“What?”

You tried to move but then noticed your legs and arms tied up

“Hey!-what-“

“There’s no point in fighting it it’s tied pretty well actually”

“By yours truly!”

“Don’t worry it won’t be like this forever just until we learn to trust you won’t do something brutal like that again”

“No….no”

“So how do we celebrate this by us finding them?”

“Why don’t we watch that movie Marcy always used to put on?”

“Yes! Then we can take turns in cuddling s/o! This will be the greatest!”

“See s/o, you wanted to be away from this? Look on how much you need us”

I guess she’s right maybe you can’t escape from them

Ahhh-i hope you liked it! I don’t really know what to say here but have a good day/night!

[pridepurgatorium]

— Offer Me That Deathless Death

Happy Beel day, to celebrate I give you my favorite piece and also my shortest. The ending is my favorite I think it encapsulates Belphie in the way I see him. I believe this is more Belphie centered but like go read my day 2 idk lol.

@ombrotherlylove2023 , Beelzbub and Belphegor

Day 6: Midnight snacks and crying

It wasn’t often that Belphie had the energy to get up and go places that he didn’t need to. The most he could do was walk to classes and walk to dinner and even that took several power naps throughout the day. And he would prefer to keep that predictability…

Except.

Beel isn’t in their room.

Belphie’s sure that while he’s sleeping, Beel goes to grab snacks and whatnot, that’s not an issue since Belphie is too busy sleeping (like the dead) to be awoken by Beel’s absence or even his presence that comes with loud crunching during the midnight hours. What stirs his mind and makes it race, is when he’s not there. Logic tells him that obviously, his brother is in the kitchen, where he always is, but logic has never seemed to help him. His sister is dead, he fell, he traded wings for a tail, and he’s cursed with sloth, and all those times, the war, and the scars he still has, were strategized by one of the strongest people he knows to date (shut up, don’t tell Lucifer), so did logic help him? Obviously, not, and so he would not listen to that distrustful logic.

Waking up in the dead of night and not finding his brother in his bed was not a common occurrence, Beel seemed to know the most common times for Belphie to wake up, but just like the Avatar himself, his sin was unpredictable. 

When this happens, it’s up to Belphie and his sleep-addled mind, often fresh off nightmares, to trust his feet to bring him to the kitchen where Beel is waiting.

And like a line in a script, he is there.

“Hi, Beel” His tongue and mouth manage to work to form coherent words, the feeling of tiredness always stands by him, and in a way that makes it and his brother similar both some of his closest friends, that would never leave no matter what he did.

“Hello Belphie I didn’t know you’d be up, sorry” And then there’s Beel who from Belphie’s world seems so perfect but that’s probably not true, is it? He’s a people pleaser through and through. For a passing moment, Belphie wants to give this idea more thought but on second thought what could he even do to help his brother? 

So instead of trying to start a conversation that needs to be had and break the serenity of the kitchen and stir up his relationship with his brother, it’s simply better to look at whatever Beel has cooked up and snack.

He doesn’t get enough to eat anyways

I seriously need to write a whole developmental piece for Belphie because he brings so many concepts even though I am kinda mean to him in my fics lol. Belphie is a character who dosen’t like change, routine is important and he finds comfort in it, he will do anything to keep stability, hide truths, murder, anything. That’s rlly fun to play with lol.

Are you ready for tomorrow? Last day, I made it queer!

[popculturebuffet]

The Owl House Finale Review: Watching and Dreaming: So Long and Thanks for All The Magic

Hello all you happy people. Here we are. After reviewing all of season and the previous two finale specials… we're here. The end of the Owl House. It had a heck of a journey going from a fairly promising and fun show I missed several episodes of … to one of the best animated shows i've seen and one of my personal faviorites period. It's a true masterpiece. It may have some rough spots from disney cutting the finale off at the knees, but even with that Dana Terrace and her stalwart crew created a truly one of a kind show.

I also feel something I didn't think i'd have at the end of this series.. hope. While I admit I was annoyed at disney for only starting to see the show's popularity after gutting it… it resulted in the best kind of revenge. MILLIONS of views for each special in their free youtube release and at the time of this writing the show became Disney's 3rd most popular show period in DIsney+. For scale the #1 show? The Simpsons. And I feel it has the potetial to pass it which is not an easy task. It is very hard to kill the simpsons. Many have tried, none have succeeded.

The show's final three episodes brought the fandom out in huge force, and only caused it to GROW, something that rarely happens as a show is near it's end. The show is more popular than it's ever been.

It means that once Dana is ready.. a sequel, prequel, interquel, whatevertheywantquel is all but assured, and wether that's via another series or a graphic novel or even an in universe book like Amphibia got, the franchise really has a bright future ahead. Sure Disney could ignore this.. but even they aren't THAT stupid, and that threshold. At the very least the odds of the show getting an art of book like ducktales at some point just shot up exponetnially and i'd dearly love that given the show's attention to background detail. It's clear we'll get something more somehow and i'm pumped for it.

But with Dana taking a well deserved rest, disney taking 80 years to do a lot of things, this is the end for now.. and even if it's the end for keeps, it was a hell of a note to go out on. It took me several days to get to it just because I was so … not ready for it to be over, but once I got there the end.. was truly satisfying. Not without some bumps, but truly great. So let's go under the cut one lass time through the door.. and into the boiling isles.

The Power of Three

For starters the finale decided to mostly zero in on our main trio. The Hexasquad get plenty to do sure, but they feel kinda shuttled to the side. I'm mixed about this: on the one hand given how personal a foe belos was for Hunter, it does feel like a bit of a cheat that he gets no real final confrontation with him or even get to join in stomping him into even more paste than he already was. They get the intro which is DEEPLY disturbing and I had to pause multiple times just because it was a LOT to sit through, and amity gets both helping Luz realize what's going on and later freeing everybody, but as a whole their just kinda there rescuing the people from the archives. It's not a bad thing and it has some great moments, like Camilla rallying all of them with Glyphs, the parent reunions, and Hunter finding someone was waiting for him.. but it feels genuinely like since they decided to have the final battle just be the power trio veruss belos, with Rahne helping in the final act of it, they had no idea what to do with the rest of the leads in any signifigant way. It's where the time crunch shows the most as important moments like Hunter getting justice for flapjack, Camilla getting a proper meeting with eda and king (though the silent moment is nice) or the Collector's decision to leave are all just kinda relegated to narration. It's clear they ran out of time and just had to do what they could, and it's only feels so off because the first two specials packed so much in. The second lagged a bit with the boscha and kiki subplot but evne that felt like it had a good payoff with Boscha's tearful reunion with her girls and Kiki beign forced to help rebuild the world into something better. This finale is by no means bad an dI giv ethe wrtiers decent slack given the circumstances, it's just clear they streched this time as far as they could and the lins show. It's still remarkable it got THIS FAR without the time crunch really showing too bad.

The reason this dosen't wreck the episdoe though.. is the feeling of things coming full circle> We started this journey with just these three weirdos: An awkward teen who no one fit in with, a rogue witch fighting an unjust system alone and having closed herself off to everyone but her son, and a small dog monster unaware of his past with delusions of tyrancy. Three people who had really no one else and found each other. We end… with a strong and powerful witch whose finally got the understanding she craved from her mom, an adorable snake thing, a sibling and friends who would go to hell and back for her, a harpy who finally opened herself back up to people, decided to help others, and reconnected with those she'd shoved away, with her family once again close, and the love of her life back with her and a king who went from being lost, to being scared finding out just WHAT He was, to a brave titan who when held captive by a mad god for months.. still sees the poor kid as the lonely child he is and does everything he can to help. It's that growth that drives the episode. The only thing to really keep them on their toes is the nightmare guilt trip sequence. Which I have to be honest isn't great. The horror aspect is great and all.. but when you stop to think about it it makes absolutely no sense. The collector ended episode 2 snapping his fingers.. but this setup was clearly Belos' plan he told the kid, something he didn't have time for. There's also the fact that Belos and Collector seem to know things like Gus and Willow missing their parents, the whole encounter with the titan trappers, and eda's issues with her mom

It's just a very messy opening and we probably coudl've gottne to "luz's loved ones are abducted and she runs into the others alone", without all the extra steps. The actual reunion is heartwarming but getting there made no sense.

Thankfully the episode picks up right after that, including one of hte best gags in the show's history as Belos finds out the truth King's a titan and can counter the collector… and his response is the brilliant delivery of "the dog?" as if all the gears in his head are turning at once that he could've kidnapped King a THOUSAND TIMES at this point and sped up his plans exponetially.

We'll get to more of a belos in a bit, but honestly while his stuff with Rahne is neat… the real great stuff in act 1 is the main trio and the collector. The intiial games sequence continues that growth: in the opening episode, our heroes struggled against warden wrath of all people. In the finale? their going up against a god child making them particapte in reckless an dangerous games.. and easily counter each one: Luz has come so far that even getting eaten by a pac man head .. is something her PALISMEN easily fixes. King takes out super monkey ball and eda easily aces jenga. Despite being uncomrfortable and painful.. each one easily steps up and ends the game for the rest of them.

It's the next part though that defines who they are: when the collector goes off to cry instead of run or try to hurt him while he's distracted… Luz's only instinct is to help him, with King backing that up. Eda's isn't, but it's less pummel the child and more "I want my kids to be safe". Our heroes could probably beat the collector even with them being a god… but it's clear that's not the way to go. It builds off the series history: Amity, Lilith and Hunter weren't in the best places.. but by simply offering forgivness and understanding… Luz got the love of her life, a cool aunt and a dorky older brother. You can't save everyone, this episode makes that ABUDNATLY clear… but it's better to try first. To try and find out WHY someone is lashing out instead of simply lashing back.

And we find out the Collector, as i've always figured. For starters he had no real concept of death and thus his worse actions like the puppets or the draining spell were just him needing to be taught those were bad.. as I always said

And that it turns out he had NOTHING to do with the genocide of the titans: turns out the others of his species were his siblings, the archivests.. and it turns out his playing with king.. was genuine. The Collector was given the "task" of studying them, really just classic shoo out the younge rsibling stuff. But he genuinely loved them, being best friends and it was genuine… and then it all went to crap: the archivetsts murdered all of them, then most of the adults. The Collector got sealed.. because THE Titan thought it was his fault, and made a hasty mistake. The result was an innocent child got sealed for someone elses mistkaes, none were left.. and Belos got his hands on the kid instead and did far FAR worse.

It also shows once again that understanding each other.. is the real lesson here.. that by trying to understand WHY the collector did this and trying to show him empathy… our heroes save the world. The final fight with the collector isn't some big battle where they have to teach him during or requires some big trick. It's a responsible mom, a good friend, and a kind teen teaching a baby god baby empathy. And it's really nice. But given we have a gooey genocidal racist monster ot deal with it can't last.. which leads us to You Never LIstened Anyway and That's the Hell of It

Naturally Belos was always going to be the final boss. The series was centered around him, everything was building to fighthing him . It's why he lived on, and evne with the collector brought in to help provide some plot thrust for the last act… it was always going to end with him versus our heroes.

The how though.. is really fucking cool. I never thought of Belos fighting the titan and it makes for a perfect final boss form for him: he used "speaking" for the titan to give himself crediblity, stole his words to propel his own dark plans, and corrupted the land to serve himself. it only makes sense that Belos final plan.. is taking the island itself: he took the boiling isles in every other way… it makes sense his final battle is BECOMING them. A symbol of all the horror and death he's caused. The Meat Moss is also GENUINELY creepy, from the way it creeps, to how our heroes are barely keeping it away, to how it easily infects a CHILD with the collector. As he's always been, Belos is an infection to the island, and making it literal was a stroke of genius. It also adds a nice timer: this should in theory make him the victor… but he's still aclimating to the body, understandably given it's a gods, but it gives our heroes only so much time to stop him.

Well that and the fact Luz dies and comes back. And i'm.. mxied on this. I do think her death serves a purpose: it unlocks eda and king's super modes, and crystalizes the Collector's development, allowing them to finally understand death, break down sobbing before going to help the others.

The problem is that it feels like a poorly set up deus ex machina. She dies just so she can come back with a super mode that was never remotely foreshadowed. It seems sloppy and wreaks of how little time they had left to resolve this, and even then that's not a full excuse: Steven Universe's ending was ALSO rushed.. but the solution to that fight still felt entirley baked in and so damn cathartic: steven loosing his gem, us finally finding out what that means.. and steven finding out that no he's not rose. SHE'S GONE. After an entire series of doubt… he is himself, and he knows it. Here it's just "Hey i'm king's dad here's some super duper power with a time limit, go kick that guys ass. Oh and Hooty's a parasite. Byeeeeee"

Okay jokes aside… the scene with King's Dad IS pretty great. While Titan Form is the epitome of

The conversatoin itself is really good. Luz has one last burst of doubt and while I felt the camilla speech was a great ending.. it's entirely realistic that sometimes even after so much caharsis.. your self hatred dosen't entirely go away. I also like the Titan's "You assume he comes from a genuine place" I know many didn't.. but it dosen't really ERASE the tragedy or nuance in belos. He can both have started this mad quest due to a combination of indoctrination and wanting to save his brother.. and still be a selfish prick who wants to be the hero. His goals to start are noble.. but he could also still have a hero complex on top of that. It meshes with his character: all those people he killed didn't matter because their just monsters because baby it's all xp. He lashed out at Caleb just as much because he felt betrayed… as it clashed wit hhis worldview. He was the brave hero saving his brother from kidnapping… in this story instead he was a misguided man who murdered god knows how many witches to save someone who was happy where they were and simply didn't know Phillip was even looking for him. Belos narcisim.. is a key part of him: he built a religion around himself, sees luz holding to her values as "can't argue with crazy" and assumes that OF COURSE he'll get some big reward. This was always there, this line simply makes it more noticable.

King's dad is also just incredibly likeable. As Steve said he's just a guy. He wears a fun t'shirt, has a bear gut and has a giant eye parasite. Sidebar, I find the reveal Hooty is a titan parasite BRILLIANT. IT's done simply as a background detail, but it explains hooty JUST enough to be fun, but not enough to ruin the joke of Hooty being dnelssely baffling. We still don't know his full phislogy, but a few parts of him, why everyone is confused what he is despite being a bug demon, his ability to eat so much, the fact he seems to be the only one of his kind.. it all clicks together. I also find it hilaroius a giant clue to King's past that could shake the very foundation of the world.. was in our heroes living room being obnoxious this whole time. Hell he WAS their living room. And again while Titan Form is very "NEED A LAST MINUTE POWER UP RRRGGGGGHHHYYARRRRGGGGH" and I will never apologize for pointing that out.. the actual final battle?

The Final Battle is a beauitful work of animatoin, showing our power trio at full power: luz has a power boost, and eda and king still support her perfectly, with each acting awesomely in sych as the bat away belos , cumilating in the three seeing the entire isles. I also like the destruction he causes: the titan simply MOVING uproots the entire arm so it's verticle and whoever wasn't a puppet likely died, and the entire island shakes, and seeing the isle changed from above is great, as is them diving straight for wher emagic comes from , the heart, cumilating in one tense final push. I also love the Rhaneunion and while hunte'rs absence in the final battle is still felt…. I do feel Rahne deserved the spot. They've been fighting against belos as hard as they could, while belos has attempted to hypnotize them then taken their body to use as a puppet. They needed this. And crecsndoing the fight with Luz repearing the opening lines of the series as she tears him out of the titan.. fucking poetry. I will also give Titan Luz this: it looks visually impressive and giving it a time limit at least makes it not wreck the whole episode. She can only use it this once and if it runs out they die.

As I hinted out and outright said before the portion after this.. feels ab it rushed. The reunions are nice, but we miss a proper meeting between Camilla , Eda and King, the Collector decides to leave in narration, and generally it feels like a few important post final battle moments are left behind so we could have that opening. That said there are more touches I ddin't mention earlier that helped: the fact that for as little as we get Camilla simply hugs king and eda, Amity, being both good with kids and having learned to forgive, is the first one to offer a hand to the collector, and the titan's magic, his words, going away with him is bittersweet. Luz still has her staff, so she's not cut off from magic, but it takes an iconic part of the show away with it, in a really fitting manner. We also get some nice cutaways to wrap up the loose ends: the various coven heads are being kept from trying a hostile takeover by Darius and Eber (and likely the rest of the CATS), while the CATS themselves stop the coven scouts.. while also having steve offer an olive branch so they can throw away the masks and move on. That said none of this would work half as well if it weren't for what they likely also spent a lot of their time and budget on and this time, gloriously

Here We Are In The Future

The Epilogue.. is brilliant. For starter it makes the apocalyptic ending of belos and the collector having each trashed the island pretty bad easier to swallow in a way that dosen't feel cheap: while we do cut to the good part of the isles being stable again… it's made clear via Luz having helped out every birthday and impliclty every weekend she wasnt busy with high school that restoring the isles took work. It took time. It reminds me of what amphibia similarly did with their flash forward, showing it took ove ra year to even get back a semblance of the world afte rall Andrias did to it. But it also shows that the isle has recover: the market is back up, the school is back up, everything has recovered.

It also shows things are BETTER: the emprial castle is now simply dust and in it's place? A University of WIld Magic. It's both brilliant and hilarously off that Eda became a college dean after all this, that instead of having to hide constantly and hope she isn't caught.. she can teach what she's learned, teach the real history of the isle, and help create more wild witches. Hexside's still there, with multitracks now clearly the norm and some crossover between the schools, but they now have a next step. What happened to the necessary parts of the coven system?

But whatever replaced it, possibly eda herself.. has made a better place in the process. The two basilks, vee's siblings that escaped with her, happily sleeping in the trees is also really neat. It also dosen't suprise me that Edric is now a dorky professor and that Gus is teaching at only 16. It does suprise me GUS is the cool teacher, or at least look it, but good for him.

As for everyone else the futures all fit: Willow stuck with Flier Derby and is likely going pro, something I like> She and Hunter are clearly together despite how many edits people try ot make to the coutrary. Guys , they have a prom photo together where to quote my friend Kammie "She looks like she's going to eat him like dinner and hunter is happy to be the plate". The ship is canon. You can stilll ship whatever the fuck you want. Please stop. But yes that's adorable as is Flaps' grave and his new sister Waffles. She is certainly there, like any good palismen but I like how angry she looks from a distance… and when you zoom in you see it's just because she's a bird, birds can look like that. We also get Amity who apparently been traveling the world in an airship scrooge mcduck style to help his research

We also get some small followups for the recurring cast: Boscha is apparently peddling grudgby gear (though I say she's simply doing it as a job as while Luz is moving for college since finals JUST ended for her school she might just be leaving early to enjoy a summer with her pals, so Boscha may be simply going to the pros.. or maybe this is her life who knows?), Matt is a construction man with a construction mustache, Kikimora is working off her horrible crimes and LIlith gets to build a library while Hooty gets to live his best life on her back.

Of course saving the best for last, Luz staying to do high school has grown on me: while Camilla probably sin't going anywhere (With vee it's vauge), I like the idea that she stayed, and not only waasn't alone thanks to her sister, her sisters partner and her sisters friends along with other weridos who turned out where there all along, but found stuff to do: she did a sport, she graduated. Sure she'll probably be moving to the demon realm full time, but this way her leaving isn't jarring or puts her mother in an awkward situationa nd Luz can go forward having known she did the hard work. Also for those wondreing Masha probably wasn't in the Grom photo because they were eithe rholding the camera or releasing spiders into the ventlation system, like any good prom.

The ending party is also sweet… even if the spider cake ruins my ablility to sleep, I will never not love the horror of hooty holding a bat full of nails. But it ends iwth the collector popping by..a nd our heroes all bidding him and us farewell.

Watching and Dreaming is an excellent finale. It has holes but it should be clear by the week it took me to write this that it was an impactful, moving closing act to one of the best animated shows. It wasn't perfect.. but frankly who is. For what it i is, it's truly fantastic and if you haven't watched it.. go.. go do that. And if you have… then you can join me in crying. I will… dearly miss the owl house. There was nothing like it on tv and may not be again. In a shifting animation landscape where many a shows future is in question, netflix seems to be close to death, and wbd is under investigation for being absolute garbage, it' snice to have a great show like this, even if it was shoved out the door, go out on it's terms, with a solid ending. Until we get more, we're now exiting the boiling isles. Watch your step.. and thanks for reading.

[danceswithsporks]

On the 5th day of Batchmas I have to all of yoooouuu

Snowflakes

I’ve decided to make little ficlets leading up until our boys get back from their super secret spy mission…err season 2.

Now this will take place in the universe I’ve built for my fic A Star Above the Rest! Some may be sneak peaks at future events, little glimpses into past events, or things I wanted to do but couldn’t work into the story! I hope you all enjoy them and Happy Holidays!

As this is an 18+ blog there may sometimes be adult content. DNI if you are a minor!

“Hey, what are you doing out here alone?” The crunching sound of boots in the snow filled the crisp night air of the uncharted snow planet they'd rendezvoused on. Zirena stepped next to Echo and looked at him. “Doesn’t all that metal make you cold?” She poked a pink gloves hand at his head.

“Just thinking.” He playfully nudged her back before staring back at the star filled sky. Streaks of blue, purple, pink and gold covered the sky in ribbons of Aurora Borealis.

Zirena leaned her head to the side and rested it on his shoulder. “What are you thinking about?” How long had it been since she’d had some quiet time like this with her dearest friend?

“Everything that’s led us to this. Standing on this frozen planet, you with a padawan and a fiancé. Me looking like this.” Motioning with his hand he pointed to her hand that would have the ring in it as well as himself. “It’s just mind blowing how fast everything changed once you joined us.”

Moving her head, she looked up at him. “That’s a compliment right?”

Echo nodded before pulling her back into him. “Of course. It’s just hard to believe I guess. If you hadn’t joined us then maybe I wouldn’t have been taken. Which meant I wouldn’t have joined the batch.”

“Do you regret joining them?” If he said yes then maybe he could come back to Coruscant with her?

“Mmm, I kinda did in the beginning. I missed you, missed Fives and the crew. But I found something here. I found a closer bond than I expected. I’ve had more adventures than I thought possible. Plus, I’ve been able to help you so much more.” Leaning over he kissed the top of her head.

Her eyes closed at the feeling and she hummed softly. “I have seen you a lot more lately.” At least she was seeing one of her boys frequently. “It’s still so weird to go back to the Resolute and you not be there. Fives misses you fiercely.” Surprisingly everyone missed him.

“I talked to Rex the other day. He said Fives could come train with us for a bit.” Echos hand rubbed her arm gently. The padding of her jacket moving back and forth.

Zirena chuckled at the news. “ Oh I bet Crosshair is going to love that.” Knowing the sniper, he’d start bitching two weeks prior.

“Oh he’s already cranky. But he’ll get over it.” It had taken some time, but Echo had finally learned to tune Cross out whenever he got cranky.

“I wanna know everything when that happens, pictures included please.” She elbowed him gently before looking across the pristine snow. “Hey, remember what we used to do in my room on the Resolute?”

Echo raised an eyebrow in thought. “Debate?”

Rolling her eyes, Zirena stepped away from him and held her hand out. “No silly, how we used to practice dancing.” She’d helped him update his dance moves for 79’s. Which everyone was thankful for.

How could he forget such great memories? The closest he’d ever get to holding her that close was during those sessions. She found it relaxing and fun, he found it the closest to heaven possible. “I almost forgot.” Liar.

“Well let’s see if you atleast remember some of the moves.” She led him a little farther out into the snow, holding his hand tightly.

“W-wait. Zee.” He hadnt done this with her since he’d been changed. How could he hold her the same way? Or dip her? Caramel eyes watched as she stopped and turned to look at him, snowflakes falling onto her as a light dusting began. He inhaled slowly at the sight of her, the way she smiled brightly at him and the snowflakes rested on her eyelashes.

“What’s up? Scared to dance?” She smirked at him with a giggle. “I’m sure you won’t step on me again.” She raised her boot towards him. “These heels finally get me close to your height.”

He couldn’t tell her that he was self conscious about how he looked now. They’d discuss this so many times already and every step she’d reassured him that it didn’t matter how he looked. But at the end of the day it kinda did. How could he hold her the right way when they danced? His scomp was probably freezing, what if it was too cold for her? Or worse! What if it froze to her somehow? But the way those emerald orbs stared at him filled with happiness and joy, he couldn’t say anything. “Is Omega asleep?”

Well that was out of nowhere. “Uh yeah. Her and Cal are curled up under Techs pilot seat. BD is watching them.” Or more likely sleeping as well. “Everyone’s asleep so don’t worry. They won’t notice you stepping on me.” She playfully stuck her tongue out to him before pulling him towards her. “Now come on, let’s see what you remember.”

Echo swallowed carefully as she pulled him into her and placed his hand on her waist. “Which one?”

Zirena hummed in thought as they simply swayed for a moment. “Oh! How about the one we were working on? Right before Chandrila?”

It took Echo a moment to remember before he nodded. “What about the music?”

Zirena tapped her temple before tapping his. “All we need is here.”

“Can you at least hum the beginning?”

“Of course.” Her soft hum began as the sound of their crunching boots echoed around them.

Echo held her hand carefully as they stepped away from each other then forward. The simple steps were repeated once more before Echo twirled her under his arm. He swallowed as her hair whipped through the air and she was pulled back into him. An easy foxtrot box step began and the two spun for a while in the falling snow. He knew what would come at the end of this, the dip that he adored so much. “Zee, how do I?”

“Don’t worry about it. Just do it.” She wasn’t stupid, she knew that the dip would come and with his shorter arm he may be worried about pulling it off. But she’s already planned for it.

Echo spun her out one more time before carefully bringing her back in. His scomp went under her to try and support her but he found it unnecessary. Her hand raised and she used the force to support her, a satisfied smile on her face. Snowflakes landed on her red cheeks and he watched as they melted from her warmth. He’d missed this and a part of him wondered if she’d missed it as well.

“I missed this.” Zirena smiled at him as she stood back up. “I forgot how good of a dancer you actually are. Once you figured it out of course.”

“Thank you, Zee.” The words had escaped before he could stop them.

Zirena gave him a confused look as she tried to figure out what for. “For what?”

No point in hiding it from her. “For making me feel normal again.”

What did he mean ‘normal’? “You are normal, Echo.”

“No, I’m not. I have a scomp for a hand, metal in my head and throughout my body. I’m lighter than my brothers and I don’t sleep as well as I used to.” He placed a hand on her cheek gently. “But for the first time in a long time. I feel normal.”

She wasn’t sure how many times they’d need to have this conversation, but she’d be there for him every single time. Resting her head into his hand, she sighed softly. “Anytime, Echo. Whenever you need to feel normal. Just give me a call.” Reaching up she took his hand and placed a kiss on the palm. “Now, up for another dance?”

Echo chuckled and nodded. “Yeah.”

From the window of the Marauder, Cal and Omega watched the two spin in the snow while BD recorded the two.

“Grownups are weird. Why are they dancing in the snow?” Omega tilted her head to the side as she watched Zirena giggle as Echo almost dropped her.

Cal simply shrugged. “My Master is weirder than most. But she’s fun.” He watched the smile on her face, feeling the happiness she felt through the force. It was the first time he’d felt this level of happiness from her since she came back from Kamino. “Wanna try?”

Omega turned and smiled at him. “I was hoping you’d ask.”

Zirena chuckled suddenly as she felt Cals happiness spike. “I think we have an audience.” She tilted her head towards the ramp of the ship. In the glow of the ship lights, Cal and Omega tried to copy their movements.

Echo followed her gaze and smirked. “Does Cal have a crush on her?”

“If he didn’t before, he does now.”

[koba-baboba]

Hate me now?- Giyuu smut

Pairing: Giyuu x fem!reader

Warnings: arguing, giyuu and reader kinda being dicks to each other, smut, some rough smut but not much, degrading kinda, some fluff, some angst, the reader is implied to be autistic and struggle with facial expressions

A/N: okokok so welcome to me writing for anything demonslayer apparently. This is very long, I may have gone overboard but I love this man. Reader being autistic and struggling with faces was basically a self insert for me 🤪

Requests: open but slow

you flicked a rock at giyuu for the third time in the past 10 minutes. You and Giyuu had been sent on a mission to ‘sort out your differences’ and it was already dreadful. It was going to be an easy probably week long trip, the demon didn’t seem strong, just smart. Giyuu just looked up at you and sneered, a look you were all too familiar with. You were both quiet and dry looking people, on the outside looking incapable of hate and annoyance.

The gravel road you were walking quietly on crunched beneath your feet, the only noise proving your existence currently. In the past 6 hours neither of you had said anything, another common occurrence. Silent hatred was both of your go to’s. You bent down and picked up another small rock and flicked it at the back of his head again with a soft thud. You grinned in satisfaction when you heard him let out a frustrated groan.

He turned to say something to you but you just waved your hand at him and pointed at the coming up village. Another sneer and huff escaped him as he saw your final destination. 10 more minutes and you could find an inn with separate rooms and ignore him for the night. Being in the bustling village was calming, you were able to focus on something other than the man next to you.

“I’ll find food if you find an inn” he spoke dryly. You mumbled in agreement and split up from him, finally. It soon dawned on you that this village, while small, was FULL. You did easily find an inn but were filled with dread when you saw that it was packed. Almost all the rooms had lights on in them. Fuck. You walked up to the desk and greeted the smelly man as politely as you could in your current mood.

“I need two rooms” you stated shortly, looking expectantly at the innkeeper. “I’m full right now lady. Unless you have enough money to rent our suites, you’re out of luck” he snickered, spit flying out of his mouth with every word. You grimaced and decided to use your last resort.

“My accomplice and I are demon slayers. Two rooms or we let the demon kill you and your lovely little town” you hissed, your fowl mood getting the best of you. The man looked taken aback but still annoyed as his eyes looked over your uniform. Your kimono that was covered in swirling water probably should’ve given away your profession.

The man grunted and opened a little book and flipped through it. “I’ve got one open room that I can give you without money” he grumbled, slamming a key onto the counter with a sneer. You took it without another word and looked down at the key for the room number. One room, of course, this mission was just getting better and better. At this point you’d rather let the demon kill you.

You walked outside and waited for giyuu to get there. The town was small enough that you didn’t actually need to go and find him. You just hoped he would actually bring you food that wasn’t poisoned. You leaned against the inn’s wall and watched as people stumbled around with red faces and giddy grins. People were strange, you never quite got them, ever since childhood you preferred books and silence. Every person was different but books were simple, just words on a page. Maybe that’s why you hated giyuu, out of the people you knew, he was the most confusing to be around. Quiet, calm and always collected, he never did what the people of this town did. He didn’t get drunk and walk around clumsily with a happy smile. He out of everyone was the hardest to read.

You groaned and ran a hand over your face, trying to force yourself to pretend this was just a normal mission and not what master said it was. “Sort out your differences. I believe you two could do great things together” were his words before you left. ‘Great things’ pfft. All you two could manage was silently cursing each other out. You were both masters of water breathing, giyuu was just lucky enough to get the position of hashira before you.

You huffed when you spotted giyuu walking towards you with two bowls of udon. He was going to kill you when he only saw the one key. “Took you long enough” you snipped flatly as you took a bowl from him. “Where’s my key” he said, ignoring your jab. “Only one room left. Unless you want to kick someone out” you chuckled dryly.

For the first time since you left you actually saw giyuu physically frustrated. He snatched the key from you and just walked away, anger leaking from him. You snorted and followed a few paces behind him. Giyuu fumbled with the key, his hands shaking with genuine anger. You rolled your eyes and slapped his hand away and grabbed the key away from him. You opened the door quickly and gawked at the room. It was tiny with one lamp and one bed. One fucking bed.

Giyuu shoved you out of the way and stalled as he took in the room too. “You’re sleeping on the floor” he stated calmly, throwing his small bag on the bed like what he said was just fine. You opened and closed your mouth like a fish as you stared as his back, shooting daggers out of your eyes. You marched up to him and spun him around swiftly. He tipped his head at you with a bland expression that you desperately tried to read.

Your faces were inches apart, matching scowls and heavy breathing. “Would you rather share the bed” he inquired with a subtle grin, he knew the answer to that. You wanted to punch him so bad, his dumbass face making you angrier than you could believe. You growled and turned away from him and threw your bag on the floor. You heard him laugh at you and you practically snapped.

You drew your sword and pressed the tip against his back. You hated him so fucking much, he did nothing but quietly mock you, humiliate you, and constantly underestimate you. “You’re going to risk your career because you hate me?” He drawled, his hand resting on the hilt of his own sword. He looked at you over his shoulder before swiftly knocking your sword back, metal connecting with metal.

Giyuu knocked your sword away, taking advantage of your hesitation to swing at him. He rested the tip of his blade under your chin, the soft bite of it digging into your skin. You couldn’t do anything but glare at him. “Are you going to risk your career because you hate me” you hissed, throwing his own words back at him. He chuckled and pressed his blade further into your skin, tilting your chin up to look him in the eye.

“You swung first” he hummed, tilting his head down at you. You brought your blade up to knock his away, the tip catching on your skin but you didn’t even care at this point. His eyes flicked down to the blood slowly dripping down your neck, a hint of guilt gracing his eyes. Once again your faces were inches apart, his breath tickling your face.

Your eyes flicked down to his stupid plump lips and his stupid pretty face. Giyuu grabbed your chin to force your face to focus on his eyes. The silence was painful, his fingers on your face were tantalizing, the small trickle of blood on your neck annoying. Giyuu groaned and tugged your face to his, pressing his lips to yours harshly.

You wanted to push him away, to tell him to fuck off but god bless this was a good way to get your frustration out. You kissed him back with just as much fervour, all teeth and tongue. Your nails digging into his shoulders roughly, mirroring his own on your chin. You shoved him back onto the bed and climbed onto his lap. Giyuu’s hands roughly gripped your hips as he rolled you both over. You knew giyuu was stronger than you but it didn’t make you want to give in so easily.

You went to shove him and roll him over but he gripped your hands and pinned them above you. “Will you for once stay still” he hissed, watching as you relaxed but still glared at him. You settled for wrapping your legs around his waist and grinding your core against his hardening cock. You grinned when he let out a broken groan, tipping his head down. He composed himself quickly and let your hands go to start ripping off your kimono. You followed suit, rushing through the motions, silently cursing kimonos for being so complicated.

Giyuu shoved off your clothes, pausing to admire your body, a look of lust overcoming his features. That one look gave you more confidence than anything could have, you smirked at him and pushed the rest of his top off and ran your nails down his chest. Giyuu lifted your hips up and pulled your pants down, chuckling when he saw your glistening cunt.

“It’s funny how you supposedly hate me but here you are, dripping for me” he mocked, running two fingers over you core, relishing in your little moan. “Want to tell me how much you hate me now?” He cooed as he started rubbing tight, fast circles on your clit. You were almost embarrassed that you were enjoying this, you hated him right?

Giyuu leaned down and started sucking angry red marks into any piece of skin he could find. “Everyone will know I’ve ruined you. Everyone will know you’re mine” he growled into your neck. You whined at his words and his continued the abuse of your clit. You were gripping onto his muscled arm like it would keep you on earth. Your neck locked back as your orgasm hit you like a train. A broken moan of his name and several explicits followed as he helped you ride it out.

Giyuu sat back on his heels with a satisfied smile, running his hands over your thighs. When he actually smiled he was pretty, it was almost frustrating that you saw it so rarely. You felt almost drunk on him, your past anger long forgotten. Your wound had stopped bleeding at some point apparently, you really hadn’t paid much attention to it.

A beat of silence was filled with giyuu looking down at you fondly, softly tracing circles into your hips. He traced his hand up to your jaw and ran his knuckles over it softly. “Still hate me” he asked almost sincerely. “I’d hate you less if you smiled more” you mumbled. You don’t know why seeing him smile made you happy but it just did. Seeing a look on his face that you recognized was comforting, especially when he was smiling at you.

“Give me a reason to smile more often. You could start by not throwing rocks at me anymore” he snorted, another unfamiliar sound from him. “You still have pants on” you mumbled, motioning at his lower half. For the first time you actually noticed the large bulge in his pants. Your stomach tightened at the various ideas that flew through your head. Giyuu quickly discarded his pants, giving you very little time to appreciate his beautiful body.

He rolled you both over once more, pulling your hips over his weeping cock. He helped you sink down on him slowly, watching your face as you winced at the soft burn shooting through your core. You felt him in your deepest parts, it was almost too much. You leaned forward and planted your hands above his head for some leverage. You somewhat expected giyuu to be rough with you again, but the gentle rolling of his hips proved you wrong. You rocked back into his thrusts, letting yourself moan his name freely this time.

His pace never wavered, a constant soft rock and drag. His cock was hitting the most delicious parts inside of you, it was almost intoxicating. Giyuu was quiet even when he was enjoying himself but the dazed out grin was enough to satisfy you. He pulled you down to kiss you, much softer this time. He swallowed your desperate moans as he felt you get closer and closer to your finish.

A few more thrusts and your orgasm washed over you, this one came in waves instead of one overwhelming feeling. Giyuu let out a symphony of groans as he felt your cunt tighten like a vice on his cock. His neck locked back as he let out gentle, quiet noises as he came. You couldn’t help but lean down and press scattered kisses to his neck. You both sat there for a second, processing what just happened.

You eventually had to roll off of him when you became too sensitive. You laid next to him on the bed that got you into this mess in the first place. Giyuu tipped his head to look over at you with a little smile. “Your face is confusing” you mumbled as you ran your knuckles over his jaw. He grabbed your hand at pressed kisses to your finger tips, a soft look on his face. “You could ask instead of being an asshole” he mumbled against your digits. You rolled your eyes and decided that you could work the rest of everything out later.

Giyuu stood up and sought out a cloth from his bag he could clean you both up with. He kneeled down on the bed and wiped up the several bodily fluids on your thighs. He worked his way up to your neck where he could clean the dried blood off. “I am sorry for… this” he mumbled. “We both know I’ve had way worse” you shrugged with a little laugh. He tossed the cloth to a corner unceremoniously and relaxed next to you again. You were hesitant to rest on him, not entirely sure if he would be ok with that. ‘You could ask’ his words floated around your head and for once, you actually took his advice.

“Can I… can we-“ you started and motioned vaguely with your hands. Giyuu just hummed and wrapped an arm around you, pulling you to his chest. You sighed and settled into the silence. In the span of an hour you went from pointing your blade at him to cuddling with him. You had no clue how exactly it happened but you were happy about it. You still had a lot to talk about but this was certainly a nice start.